My Little Illusion
by AuthorJ
Summary: An otherwise normal day in Equestria is upset when the whole of the land awakens to find itself in human form. The former ponies now face a movement spearheaded by one Yukari Yakumo with unknown motive, from the illusory world of Gensokyo.
1. Shift

**My Little Illusion**

_Shift_

A day at Sweet Apple Acres oft times began early, before the crack of dawn. The daily tasks of tending an apple orchard the size it was with a two-pony work team a demanding chore in itself, alongside the upkeep of buildings, daily errands and care of what animals they kept. Applejack had grown up in the lifestyle, and she expected nothing different from the day as she slipped out of bed with a yawn, just another day on the farm.

It was what made it so strange as her legs gave out from beneath her the second she put weight on them, flailing and grasping onto the nearest thing she could, a bed post, as her hoof wrapped around it to brace herself.

_Wait..._she thought, something immediately registering wrong in her mind. She reached out, flipping the switch of the lamp aside her bed, flooding the once dark room with a sudden light that blinded her a moment as her eyes adjusted. She found her legs, and on a bizarre whim she couldn't hope to explain, rose up straight on her hind ones, releasing the bedpost as she reached up and rubbed her eyes. It was just an off day, she was already telling herself. The moment she got outside to applebucking, it would all fall into place. She opened her eyes after a moment, drawing her foreleg back...

Except it wasn't a leg. It was something else, and in place of hoof she had some strange appendage with five smaller ones growing out of it. She had to take a quick check, to ensure that it was hers, and it was indeed attached to her shoulder, and torso, and... Wait, why were they so broad, and dotted with so many freckles? What were those lumps on her chest... that was her chest, right? In fact, just about everything had changed. She turned about, taking broad steps across the room to a worn-out vanity in the corner and took a look in the mirror. Any bit of her orange coat had disappeared, leaving tanned flesh bare to view in its place. To some residual horror, but the least of her concerns, she'd noticed her cutie mark had even disappeared from her flank. Her mane looked the same, though her eyes were a considerable bit smaller, and that was just the start. She made a few gestures in the mirror, if only to allow the realization to sink in all the way. Whatever was going on, Applejack was now... what the hay was she?

A shriek tore her attention from the mirror.

"Applebloom?" the blonde called out, taking up a sprint with some surprise in the back of her mind at how quickly she'd adapted to her hind legs' new shape, weaving out of her room and the short distance down the hall to her little sister's. She threw the door open, slamming it against the wall as she did, and came to a dead halt, her eyes locked on the filly curled up in her bedsheets.

"A, Applejack, don' look't me!" she said, quickly diving under the sheets. Applejack had seen enough though, and a great deal more concern welled atop what had already shown. She walked forward, paying no mind to the thunderous beats she assumed was Big Macintosh hurrying along to the room, lowering herself beside Applebloom's bed and pulling back the sheets. Instead of the little filly she'd watched over her entire life, Applebloom had taken on a form like she had, curled up and trembling in a ball with tears in her eyes.

"Wut'n Celestia's name's goin' on here?"

* * *

><p>It wasn't just Applejack and Applebloom, it wasn't even just Sweet Apple Acres. After a few hours of situating and sorting themselves out, the Apple Family, save Granny Smith, who was resting in bed already from the stress of the event, had gone out to Ponyville and seen the effect had rippled throughout the community. Everypony, now, was not a pony, though it seemed the effect had its variances. To begin, mane and eyes remained ultimately the same, though as Applejack's family had discovered, that was about the extent of it. All were of various shapes, sizes and heights now, and the variety of colors that had been present in the coats of all had given way to flesh like her own, some of darker complexions, others nearly pale. Most were largely recognizable at least, Applejack counted herself fortunate to have kept memory of her customers, and others did the job of standing out by themselves.<p>

Those who had been Pegasi were easiest to recognize, they still had their colored wings, though considerably larger now and fixed to the small of their backs. She hoped Rainbow Dash would be easy to spot with her own sky blue wingspan. Unicorns, on the other hand, took a keener eye to spot. All carried on their person now some strange stick with something that looked like their horns attached to the end, not one the same length or color as the other. She wasn't sure if their magic yet functioned the same, but that wasn't her prime concern.

"Applejack, why're we wearin' our bedsheets?" Applebloom asked beside her, looking at her elder sister with a puzzled gaze.

"Ah... Ah dunno, really." Applejack confessed, her own wrapped tightly about her and tied off below her arms. "Jes' didn' feel proper goin' without somethin' to cover up."

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh agreed, as ever a stallion of few words unless the situation deemed it otherwise necessary.

"Looks like ev'ryone else is doin' the same." Applebloom muttered, a detail Applejack hadn't thought to pay too much attention to. Indeed, it seemed most of Ponyville's residents had garbed themselves in some manner, bedsheets, towels, table cloths, nothing was out of consideration. A few had been out and about in the nude, but little could be done about that, and Applejack constantly found herself averting her eyes when those situations arose.

"Oh my Gosh, I can't believe it, you guys too?"

Then, there was the one thing in Ponyville, in all of Equestria even, that would never change. Pinkie Pie, bouncing... hopping... skipping? That seemed like the right word, skipping at them from out of the crowd, and dressed in a way she'd never seen, though for whatever reason, she knew what to call what she was looking at. In fact, as the day went on, she seemed to pick up more and more on words and names of things that she hadn't used, even known, before, and actions and gestures that had been foreign had become second nature to the farm mare. She assumed Pinkie, dressed in blue overalls, pink and white sneakers, and a pastel-pink shirt with what could only have been her cutie mark embroidered on front and back, had the same experience. Bracelets and an elastic band dangled off what she'd heard others call her wrists, and yellow, balloon-shaped earrings from her ears. Even with the outfit, the strange body, however, she was the same hyperactive pony inside.

"Can you believe what's happened to everybody? It's totally amazing!"

"Er, don'cha mean 'everypony'...?" Applejack inquired, staring into her friend's blue eyes, which she would swear were as wide as they were when she was still walking on all fours.

"Nope. Dunno why, just kinda sounds better, doesn't it?" Pinkie shrugged, before running around behind them and, in a motion that should have been impossible in all of the second it took, had Applebloom on her shoulders and was already shoving she and Big Macintosh down the road. "C'mon, you gotta come to Carousel Boutique! Rarity's got this _huge_ thing going where she's giving these neat clothes out to everyone in Ponyville! Now you don't have to run around naked! Though it's kinda fun to do that too."  
>"W, waitaminute there, Pinkie!" Applejack protested, digging her bare feet into the dirt road, only to find no purchase on it against her ecstatic friend's shoving. "Ain'cha even the least bit concerned 'bout all this?"<p>

"Nope!" Pinkie said. "I mean everyone's okay, right? We just look funny! Might as well enjoy whatever this is while it lasts!"

Applejack frowned, finally leaning forward out of Pinkie Pie's pushing and taking to a walk, readjusting her bedsheets about her body a bit and frowning as they headed down the road.

"Ah hope that's all it is..."

* * *

><p>Carousel Boutique was absolutely overrun. While half of Ponyville was wandering about clad in whatever they could scratch together in the streets, the other half had found its way to Rarity's doorstep. If not for the extreme assertiveness Pinkie Pie showed in getting them inside, the day would probably have come, gone and come again before they had even seen the welcome mat. Of course, if not for Big Macintosh's gentle natured words of apology to those the pink once-pony had practically blown out of their way, Applejack wasn't sure that a fight wouldn't have erupted from that.<p>

"I need you to stitch these together, it's a gown, dear, not a blouse and skirt ensemble. H, hey! Not that fabric, the next roll!"

Applejack piqued a brow in intrigue, stepping forward and clutching her sheets tightly to her chest, wary of the shuffling feet that threatened to trap her loose wrappings and strip her of them. As they moved to the front of the crowd, the sound of barking orders became more apparent as Rarity sat at a drafting table, a pencil working furiously on scratch paper as she stole repeated glances at a violet and pink haired mare, her locks bent back into curls, and not far ahead of her at a station nearby, a handful of others were working on stitching, cutting, fitting and sizing lengths of cloth and different outfits. What had been a one-pony show before had turned into a work force belting out orders almost like an assembly line. Rarity had, of course, been dressed already, a white blouse studded with a line of aquamarine around the rim of the collar and down the seam in the center, black slacks and heels to match. Her face long and, for a moment, Applejack had mistook her porcelain-colored skin for the coat she'd had as a pony, pale as it was. She was tall and slender the same, certainly bigger than Applejack or Pinkie.

"Alright, Bonbon, take this design to the fitting station and Swiftstitch will see to your measurements. Will the next in line come up?" Rarity turned right after that, her eyes widening as she saw the Apple family moving forward, Pinkie Pie close behind. "Applejack, Applebloom, Big Macintosh, what _are_ you wearing?"

"'S not like we had a lotta choice." Applejack said, her brow knitting together a bit as she folded her arms over her chest. "Sure looks's though ya've got yerself busy."

"Celestia help me, yes, I've had the good fortune of being sent some apprentices from one of the schools in Canterlot for the day though. Oh, hold on just a moment. Gossamer!" Rarity turned, watching a young, bespectacled male with a short, silver mane jog up from nearby, pointing to the drafting table. "Could you take over for me for a bit? I have another personal affair to handle."

"Certainly, Ms. Rarity." he said with a quick bow before turning and gesturing to the next in line to come forward, taking to the table and paper without hesitation.

"Wow, he's almost as uptight as you." Applejack quipped, allowing herself a grin as Rarity shot her a look.

"If you mean 'well-mannered', he is at the top of his class, and knows how to treat a lady. Come now, you three, I simply can't allow you to wander around like this for another second. We'll have you all fitted for something nice in no time." Rarity smiled, gesturing for them to follow her as she headed towards the door that led to the home portion of the boutique. "Oh, and Pinkie, thank you so much for bringing them in, that just leaves Twilight to be dealt with, whenever we get a hold of her."

"Oh, oh, I'll go get her!" Pinkie volunteered, raising her hand and waving it spastically in the air. Before Applejack had a second to comprehend just what happened, or Rarity time to object, Pinkie had taken off like a flash, literally jumping into the crowd.

"I swear, sometimes I don't know what possesses that girl." Rarity said with a sigh.

* * *

><p>"I said I don't wanna wear this stuff!"<p>

Applejack recognized that voice that brought pause to their whole party, and a sigh to Rarity's lips, more exasperated what came with Pinkie's abrupt departure.

"If you three could wait out here just a moment, I have to help Fluttershy." Rarity walked forward, rolling up her blouse sleeves to her elbows with a look of set determination. If Applejack didn't know any better, and she did, she'd have sworn Rarity was getting ready to get into a fight. Instead, as she opened the door, she watched a hand slip into the pocket of the slacks, drawing out one of those long-shafted sticks, at the end of it a white, horn-like tip, like Rarity's when she had still been a unicorn. Before she could any questions, Rarity had slipped inside and shut the door, the locks falling into place with a loud click.

"Rainbow Dash, you will stop acting like a child this instant and get dressed! I trusted Fluttershy to handle making your clothes because I hoped she could be gentle, but know you are _not_leaving this room until you are decent!"

"We never had to wear this junk when we were ponies, why now? What's it matter?"

"It's simple decency, dear, having all of this just... hanging out is so vulgar!"

"This stuff's way too baggy and loose, it'll slow me down! There's no way I'm gonna wear something that's gonna slow me down!"

The Apple siblings exchanged awkward glances as they listened in, their attention diverted to wonder at a pause.

"Because, Fluttershy, it's just... stupid!" she hollered, clearly at her patience's limit. "It's stupid, that's all it is, I'm not gonna wear this crap even if you made it!"

A pause that had not been one at all and had instead been Fluttershy's meek voice not projecting through the door.

"N, no, I appreciate it, but... I mean..."

A light, sobbing noise began to pick up.

"F, Fluttershy, I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"Now see what you've gone and done, being stubborn like that?" Rarity snapped, hurried footsteps making their way to their ears before quiet hushing.

"... Fine..." Rainbow's conceded with regret. "Fine, I'll wear it, just... Fluttershy, I didn't mean it..."

The sobbing began to ease.

"We're all stressed out, Rainbow Dash." Rarity said. "All of Equestria's changed overnight, literally, Heavens only knows what else is going on, and then there are these things we seem to know with it for... whatever reason. We're all a little high strung right now."

"... M'sorry..." Rainbow Dash's voice barely carried across the door. It was another few minutes after that, the voices had died down enough to where it was more of a mix of inaudible mumbling through the door. Finally, the knob turned, and Rarity opened the door with a weary smile, gesturing the family in.

"I apologize, it's been a rough day."

"Sure sounds like it." Applebloom said, tugging up her sheets a bit more.

"Everythin' okay now?" Applejack asked, turning her eyes to Fluttershy, sitting on the bed and dabbing her eyes with a quiet nod and faint smile. Even like this, she was meek, gentle, and delicate. Her body was slim, a bit shorter than Rarity, which, thus far, placed her as second tallest in their group, though with fair curves and a healthy pink color to her body, nothing in contrast to her mane, which now threatened to brush the floor. Her wings were visible, yellow feathered and tucked behind her back, tips reaching over the edge of the bed. They almost blended in with her outfit, a yellow gown with long bell-sleeves, a thick wrap of green around her waist, trimmed in pink, as were her collar, sleeves and the hem of her dress, with brown slippers all that covered her feet. Above her left ear, Applejack noticed with a bit of a smile, was a hairclip mimicking one of the three butterflies that had made up her cutie mark.

"I'm sorry if I caused any trouble, I just..."

"Oh, Fluttershy, don't be ridiculous." Rarity said with a reassuring smile as she walked to a rather elaborate vanity mirror, grasping a brush and deftly running it through her hair with practiced precision. "Things will settle down soon enough, I already can't thank you enough for putting together Rainbow Dash's clothes, you certainly helped me in this pinch."

"Where'd she get off ta anyway?" Applejack asked, her question answered all of a second later as a small figure walked around from a dressing blind, tugging down at a sky blue sleeveless top over a pair of blue jeans and black sneakers with blue streaks running across the sides. She was short and slender, anymore so and she'd have looked the part of a male. Her wings matched her shirt, and her rainbow colored mane stretched only just past her shoulders, raggedly cut bangs waving just over her eyebrows. She grasped a pair of goggles off of a nearby table they'd been sitting on and pulled them over her head, letting them dangle off her neck.

"Lookin' pretty good, RD." Applejack said with a smirk. "Sure fought over it though."

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow Dash said dismissively, smirking at Applejack. "Just wait 'til you see what they've got in mind for you guys."

Applejack blinked, turning to Rarity, catching her with a broad smile on her lips.

"Well, I just _knew_sooner or later you'd all be coming in, so I took the liberty of preparing a few designs for all my friends and their families before everything got... well, crazy, this morning. I've already got the ones in mind, though, seeing you all now I suppose I can make a tweak to it here and there..."

"So couldn't ya've just had us these clothes made up already?" Applejack asked, her question catching the attention of her brother and sister.

"Well, I could have, if you wanted to run the risk of not being able to breathe for your blouse being too tight around the chest or swimming in extra fabric. I had to wait for you to come in and get your measurements." Rarity spared a look to Big Macintosh, raising an eyebrow as her smile shifted to a smirk. "I'm glad we waited on you, you certainly are living up to your name."

Big Macintosh only offered a smile in response.

"Oh, and what of your grandmother?"

"She's at home, sleepin'." Applebloom volunteered the information without so much as a thought.

"It was a bit much fer Granny Smith to take in at her age, we let 'er rest to catch up with it."

"Mm, well, we can't just wait then... I suppose I'll arrange something loose and more comfortable for her then and we'll sort out the fashion details later, but everyone has to have something by the morning. Anyhow, let's get started, the sooner we get you clothed the better. Fluttershy, could you handle Applebloom?"

"Wut's the rush?" Applejack asked, watching Rarity pull out a measuring tape and walk on over, taking her by the arm and guiding her off. Certainly, the clothes seemed important if she was going to lengths to avoid staring at people running around in the nude, but this made it sound almost like-

"Well when Princess Celestia herself sends you a task and a team to get it done, Applejack, generally you're expected to get it done."

... a royal decree.

"The princess's puttin' out this order ta Ponyville?" Applejack asked, bewildered.

"All of Equestria, Applejack." Rarity said as she settled around a corner behind her, a swift tug sending the sheet she'd been wearing flying across the room as she felt the tape wrap around her waist. "Everyone's undergone this change, and no one has a clue as to why."

"Everypony." Applejack corrected as the tape was moved and her arm was pulled out to her side.

Rarity made another measurement, quickly scribbling the two so far down onto a piece of paper. "Dear, Applejack, whatever we are now, we most certainly are _not _ponies. Now, inseam, please."

* * *

><p>Applejack wasn't sure of just what to think about the situation being so serious that Princess Celestia would order everyone in Equestria to be clothed, but it had worked out. Within the hour, the Apple family stood with four new sets of clothes, one boxed to bring home to Granny Smith. Big Macintosh and Applebloom had gone on ahead back to Sweet Apple Acres as Applejack finished dressing herself in the foreign garb. The bra, which Rarity had to help her put on at first, she doubted she would ever get used to. She did feel unease ebb though as she dressed, and Rarity had done a fairly nice job, she had to confess. She fumbled with the buttons of a yellow and orange plaid shirt, rolling her shoulders a little as she adjusted to how it sat on her. She glanced down at the dark blue jeans and brown cowboy boots she'd put on before, reaching out blindly and grabbing a vest the same color as the boots and slipping it on over the shirt.<p>

_It's so strange..._ she thought, reaching blindly to a table and grabbing off of it a pair of gloves, rubbing her thumbs over them. _Ah wouldn't've imagined halfa this yesterday when Ah was a pony, now Ah'm this... thang, and it just keeps comin' t' me. Ev'ryone-_ She paused her thoughts, squeezing her eyes shut, unsure if she should have chided herself for it or not, that she was even thinking that term. _All'a Equestria's been changed... Jes' wut's goin' on?_

"Applejack, have you finished dressing yourself?" Rarity asked, stepping around the privacy blinds and looking at her with a satisfied smile. "I must say, you wear that well. Maybe there is something to that rough farm look after all, with the right touches."  
>Applejack offered a weary smile, looking to the prissiest pony she knew as she leaned forward, propping her elbows up on her knees.<p>

"Rarity, wut d'ya know about all'a this?" she said, her tone completely frank. "Y'said the princess herself has ya dressin' all'a Ponyville with that help in there."

"I wish I knew much more than that." Rarity said with a sigh, her arms folding over her chest. "I've made some observations myself, as I'm sure you've done the same, but I think we're all about in the same boat. I just had to send Fluttershy to the library, Twilight's been researching this fiasco since before dawn. It's even effected Spike."

"Spike?" Applejack blinked, rising up and slipping her gloves into her back pocket. "But he's a dragon."

"Was, yes, now he's a little... boy, I suppose is the word."

"Wut about Owlowiscious?"

"Still an owl. I had to double check and make sure Opal hadn't changed after I got word from Pinkie about it." Rarity's eyes widened as if a light turned on, and she turned, gesturing for Applejack to follow. "That reminds me, she stopped by your farm and got your hat. I made up one like it, just incase we wind up turning back." Rarity walked to a dress form in the corner, still a pony. On the head sat Applejack's original hat, worn a little around the edges with bits of fuzz and a few recognizable, small stains from work on the farm. On its flank, a new, slightly larger hat, looking near identical to its older counterpart, if not for a clip in the band, carefully crafted to look like her cutie mark. Applejack's smile grew as she put it on.

"Fits like a glove." she said, blinking a bit as she surprised herself with the word.

"Considering neither of us knew what gloves were 'til today, I'll take your word for it." Rarity said with a smile. "I still had my jewels, I just cut a ruby and amber to fit the shape of your old cutie mark."

"Still have yer magic then." Applejack said, her statement earning a nod as Rarity reached into her pocket, pulling out that stick with a mock-up of her horn on it, a wand, as it were.

"I woke with it on my pillow next to me this morning, I wasn't sure what to do with it at first. Honestly, it terrified me and I threw it out the window." She glanced over her shoulder, depositing her wand in her pocket again. "It came right back to me, however. I wasn't sure what to do 'til I threw this thing together."

"Guess whatever's happenin', at least we got our talents." Applejack said, reaching up and grasping one of her arms at the bicep, feeling muscle beneath the sleeve. "Sure is strange though."

"Well, we'll have to make the best of it." Rarity shrugged, smiling a bit as she started past Applejack. "Anyhow, it's been sometime now, I have to return to work. I can't shirk my duties forever, after all."

Applejack nodded, hooking her thumbs in her pockets. "Thank ya, Rarity, fer ev'rythin'."

"Of course, Applejack, what are friends for?" She smiled over her shoulder, Applejack following behind her. "Once I'm done here, we're planning on meeting at Twilight's. She's divulged herself completely to study on this, as I said, so we're hoping she has some answers."

"Or maybe the princess'll drop her a line." Applejack said, watching Rarity nod.

"Of course, before I go I'll need to make up a new outfit, I wouldn't dare set foot outside the shop in this."

Applejack blinked, staring at her with some bewilderment. "Ya got clothes and ya look fine, why fuss?"

Rarity reached up, tossing her hair back with a flick of her wrist and a smile. "Oh, Applejack, I threw this old thing together for work. It's important a lady keeps herself looking her finest at all times."

"Jes' sounds like more've yer nitpickin'." Applejack said with a grin as they re-entered the shop, which looked even more crowded than before, if that was possible. She watched Rarity's smile turn to a smirk as she walked to the drafting table where Gossamer was sketching furiously at a design for what looked to be Cheerilee.

"Perhaps, but I do it _so_well."

* * *

><p>It was dusk before Rainbow Dash came to get Applejack from the farm, the day's work completed and her new clothes a sweaty, dirt-splotched mess. It had quickly grown apparent to her family they'd need more than just a single set of clothes for their work, and it was more than likely they weren't the only ones.<p>

"Think she's gonna get upset?" Rainbow asked as they approached the library door, pushing it open and stepping through the threshold with her companion.

"Good Heavens, just _what_have you been doing?" Rarity exclaimed before either of the two had ever a chance to even lock eyes on her.

"Hope that t'weren't a serious question." Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched Rarity approach, and true to her word, in a completely different outfit than before, wearing another, finer looking white blouse with the sleeves rolled up past the elbows, a black and violet corset and belt, black skirt with violet trim, pantyhose and ankle boots. Applejack had to shake her head at how quickly the words came to her, in the process eying a garter around one of her thighs where the skirt had a slit run up the side, and in the garter her horned wand, while a silver chain dangled around her chest with a diamond, cut like her cutie mark had been. "How'd ya find time fer this?"

"There is _always_time for fashion, Applejack." Rarity said, taking a hold of her shirt with no regard for the fact that she tugged the blonde up onto her toes. "How's a woman to keep up appearances when she's slogging about in the mud and trees all day? Honestly, Applejack, it's not as if it's like washing your coat, what if the stain doesn't come out?"

"Then Ah got a work shirt, big deal." Applejack said, grabbing Rarity's hands by the wrists with a frown. "If it's such a big whoop make somethin' fer gettin' dirty in, Ah got a job to do and can't jes' wait on all'a this ta blow over. Shoot, Ah know Rainbow Dash's still gotta handle the weather."

Rarity looked incredulous, but resigning to the fact. She sighed, pulling her hands free of Applejacks and dusting them off. "I suppose you may have a point. We still haven't finished our work at the boutique, either... Oh, I can't imagine what it must be like in Manehatten, or Canterlot right now."

"The sooner we figure out what's goin' on here the sooner we can stop worrying about it." Rainbow Dash said, walking past the two. "C'mon, I wanna get this over with."

Applejack and Rarity were shortly behind the rainbow-maned girl, following her up the stairs to the second floor of the hollowed out tree, where the others sat waiting on the floor.

"Oh, Rarity!" Spike exclaimed, leaping up from where he'd been sitting and walking quickly over to the three. "Applejack showed up finally, huh?"

"Yes, well, we do all still have our work." Rarity said, passing a quick smile to the blonde before heading to the pillow she'd had laid out. Applejack watched Spike with a grin, a little boy that was only standing just past her waist level, dressed in a violet hoodie, green shorts, and violet and green shoe. His hair and eyes were, again, green, no doubt Rarity had stuck with the theme when designing the clothes, and his hair was short, save three spikes of hair fashioned up and pointing back atop his head.  
>"Like a lil' lost pup." Applejack said under her breath, Rainbow Dash snickering in amusement. Applejack took a look around the room, noticing just how torn apart it was. Half the books were off of their shelves, and half of those sat open and marked. She found Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sitting together, Pinkie gabbing on in her usual manner about something or other that she wasn't even going to try and figure out, and Fluttershy simply smiling and nodding with Angel, her rabbit, sitting in her lap. Twilight Sparkle, however, was nowhere in sight. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask just where the sixth of their band was.<p>

"Aaauuugh, this is _hopeless_!" a frustrated, familiar voice exclaimed with exasperation. Applejack looked up to the sleeping area of the room, and from behind a wall of novels, references and scrolls, Twilight strode, holding four books underarm as another easy dozen floated behind her, wrapped in the familiar magenta hue of her magic. Her hair was long, down past her waist, and cut even at the bangs and ends with the kind of neatness, or perhaps high maintenance, that she'd come to know the once-unicorn for. Her outfit was by far the most decorated, something she perhaps would have expected a student from Celestia's school of magic to wear. Black gloves covered the length of her arms just below her armpits, the pinky and ring fingers cut off of them as her thumb, middle and index gripped her wand, a cut of function over fashion there. Her blouse was high-collared and elaborate, lavender colored, the same as her coat had been, and layered from the neck down to the shirt in black, gold, dark blue and violet, as if to match her namesake. Her cutie mark had even been embroidered on the black part of the collar, a personal touch that made it hers. A dark blue skirt fell halfway to her ankles from her knees, embroidered with gold trim up the sides where the stitching had been done and alone the base, black socks and brown dress shoes completing the outfit.

"Ah didn' think ya'd go that far with hers after seein' Spike's." Applejack said, taking a seat beside Rarity.

"I had something simpler in mind, but it came with the orders from the princess, there was a template for students of her school, I just thought to, you know, personalize it for her a bit." Rarity shrugged, closing her eyes. "I offered her the other design I came up with as well, but Twilight insisted she felt more comfortable in that and that I worry about my shop first."

"Guess Ah get it... Ah think." Applejack wouldn't claim to try and understand the thought process behind it, at least she was dressed.

"I've torn this library apart." Twilight said in exasperation, flicking her wand down, causing all the books to fall into neat stacks as she spun about, sitting cross-legged on a pillow. "I've gone through illnesses, viruses, diseases, transformations, transmogrifications, alchemy, illusions, biology, physiology, astronomy, astrology, teleportation, artifacts, dimensional time _and _space theories, old mare's tales, fairy tales, and the tabloids in the newspaper next to politics! There's _nothing_on this condition!" Twilight leaned back, allowing herself to sprawl out on the floor and heave a weary sigh.

"Seriously, even an egghead like you couldn't figure it out?" Rainbow Dash enquired, some amazement in her tone.

"Maybe it's somethin' else." Applejack looked to Pinkie Pie, raising an eyebrow. "Thinkin' of, it's been a while, anythin' outta yer Pinkie Sense?"

"Well I caught Gummy in Mrs. Cake's dishes today, but other than that not really."

There was silence for a moment after that, the seven in the room pondering amongst themselves just what their next course of action would be. It seemed to drag on forever, before the meekest of their lot spoke up.  
>"Um... if you don't mind..." Fluttershy said, her legs bent up, tucked close to her chest. "Maybe we should bring up what we know... and, um..."<p>

"... Maybe it can give us an idea of where to go next!" Rarity said, clapping her hands together with a smile. "Fluttershy, that sounds like a splendid idea!" The former-pegasus shrank a little under the compliment, contrary to the broader smile she hid behind her sleeve. "So, what _do_we know about this situation then?"

"Fer starters, looks like ponies of all kinds were affected." Applejack said, raising a finger up. "But judgin' by the wings an' those... wand-things, y'all keep yer natural abilities."

"True, my magic doesn't seem like it's been diminished in any way." Twilight said, pushing herself up on her hands and drawing her wand out. "I had no trouble casting any of my spells once I figured out how to move in this form, Spike still was even able to send off a letter to the princess. I'm still waiting on a response though."

"Dragons are changed too, on that note, Spike at the very least, but nothing else in Ponyville seems to've been." Rarity said, looking to Rainbow Dash. "Dear, you were flying about today, what of the gryphons?"

Rainbow Dash sniffed derisively, folding her arms across her chest. "And what makes me the expert?"

"Simply asking, dear, I didn't know if you had seen any... Heavens, I hope Zecora's alright."

Applejack didn't even have to guess why Rainbow Dash went on the defensive so quickly. It was a little spoken of matter, but since the day Gilda had shown herself, and her tail, to all of Ponyville and broken off with her old friend, it only made sense for a girl as rough around the edges as her to be quick to snap. "Alright, so what else've we got?"

"Well, sounds like all of Equestria's been changed by this." Spike said, his hands in his sweater pockets as he stood by Twilight. "At least, if the princess is sending out help to make something like clothes..."

"No, you're right, Spike." Rarity said. "I've discussed it with a couple of the others at my shop, but this is effecting everyone." Rarity's head turned as a knock echoed from downstairs, the rest of their heads following the motion in suit.

"I'll get it." Spike said, turning and heading to the steps. Applejack smiled to the boy before looking back among the other girls.

"There's no way this could be Discord or somethin' like that again, could it? Ah mean he was jes' petrified, may'a shook loose of it."

"Oh, do you think he'd do the thing with the chocolate rain again?" Pinkie exclaimed, rolling forward on her knees, only to quickly be tugged back onto her bottom by her overalls thanks to Rainbow Dash.

"If it was him, by now Angel would probably be fifty feet tall and juggling cows." Rainbow Dash said, trading a smirk off with a harsh look from the white rabbit. "I think we packed that sorry sucker away for good."

"Though now I'm wondering if it's something the Elements of Harmony could do something about." Twilight said, cupping her chin in thought.

"I'm afraid not, Twilight Sparkle."

Applejack knew that voice. They all knew that voice. In an instant they were on their feet, turning to behold Princess Celestia ascended the stairs. In the same haste that they rose, the six in the room prostrated themselves before her, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie going to one knee, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash to both, bending over and bringing their heads to the floor. The realization of their difference gestures a second after made for an awkward pause between them.

"Rise, my subjects, I come with important news." The princess said, planting a golden staff's base against the floor, cut with artistically rendered lines and bearing the image of a huddled phoenix below where a horn sat, appearing more like a spear by its mounting. Her wings were by far the largest of anyone's in the room, only faintly pink. Her hair fell only just short of the floor, the gradient of colors still waving as if in a breeze as when she was an alicorn. Her manner of dress was, if nothing else, regal, a white silk, backless gown covering the length of her body. On her legs, greaves, gauntlets on her arms, a thick collar about her neck and a crown atop her head, and a chain belt about her waist, suspending a sun crafted to resemble her cutie mark, all of it in gold, forged and shaped with the same care and designs that her staff bore. To make matters more amazing, she towered over the lot of them, easily near seven feet tall, as if to emphasize her status as not only the unquestioned ruler of their land, but a near, if not complete, goddess among them.

"Princess, we were just meeting to discuss this strange transformation." Twilight said, stepping forward, closer to Celestia than any of them would dare to get. Applejack was reminded of just how close her relationship with the princess was, not only in the manner of student and teacher relations, but in some ways with the affection that was displayed between a mother and child. "I'm not sure if you heard, but we were gathering up what we knew about this, and..."  
>"It doesn't amount to much, does it?" Celestia said, earning a solemn nod from her pupil. She turned her head, gazing about the room, before looking to Twilight with a warm smile. "Ever the dedicated researcher, I see. I'd like to hear your report on just what you've discovered... What you've all discovered."<p>

* * *

><p>What they knew was divulged quickly, personal experiences with the matter shared amongst the whole of the group as Princess Celestia listened in silence, offering only nods or speaking to beckon the next in line to tell their tale. It had taken some time to get through them all, but they did, and the princess looked satisfied with what she had heard.<p>

"I understand that this has been a trying day for all of us, indeed, it has been for all of Equestria." The princess brought her staff in, leaning it against her shoulder. "It's not just ponies and dragons. Zebras, the buffalo, the gryphons, all sentient races in Equestria have been changed by this. It doesn't seem that our hearts or minds have changed, and those with wings, or with the ability to use magic have certainly retained that. However, I'm not entirely sure that these changes will be the only things to come of this."

"Princess Celestia, what do you mean?" Rarity asked. "While I'm certainly more fond of being a pony, I'm not entirely sure this is anything utterly catastrophic."

"I wish I could share that sentiment so easily, my child." Princess Celestia said, closing her eyes. "I have ruled Equestria for centuries, and never have I encountered something like this. There is a faint trace of magic around it, I can sense that much, as can my sister, Luna. What kind, though, I cannot say. It's unlike anything that either of us have ever dealt with before, and its power is great, perhaps on par with or even surpassing Discord's own."

"Greater'n Discord's power?" Applejack said, concern visible on her face. "The guy had homes fallin' over like playin' cards, an' that was before we had the elements workin' again. Wut'll we do if they can't help us in this mess?"

"The Elements of Harmony, Applejack, were created to restore peace and balance." Princess Celestia said, closing her eyes. "They are an incredibly powerful tool that will grant their chosen bearers the strength to restore order by whatever means the power deems necessary. Right now, things are certainly chaotic, but not out of hand. Whatever our new forms, they've come to us with the knowledge of what they are and what we can expect of them, and while the power of this change is unparalleled by anything I have seen in all of my years, it has, so far, not proven malevolent. For now we'll simply have to tolerate this and see what comes of it, and hopefully discover a way to return to our original forms."

Applejack nodded in understanding, looking to the other girls, who had seemed to accept the words of their princess, except for Pinkie Pie, whose attention was completely elsewhere.

"Uh, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, reaching over and tapping her on the shoulder. "Ya here with us?"

"Well, duh, I'm sitting right here." Pinkie said, again exercising her unusual knack for missing the point. "There's a funny looking cat in the window though."

The room's attention turned to the window, where a black cat sat perched on the sill outside, gazing on them with green eyes. As its ear flicked, a glint of gold was visible, which Applejack had to take a moment to process.

"My word, are its ears pierced?" Rarity said, standing up and walking towards the window, a mixture of sympathy and irritation visible in her face. "Who would do such a thing to a poor creature like that?"

Just as Rarity came close to the window, the cat rose, arching its back and bristling its fur with a hiss. Turning on its paws, it leapt off the sill, and out of sight.

"Oh dear!" Fluttershy exclaimed, lifting off of the floor and making it to the window with a quick couple flaps of her wings, coming right up behind Rarity. She threw the window open, looking down and around. "Oh, where'd it go? That poor kitty couldn't have jumped all the way from the second story, could it?"

Applejack rose, walking up to Rarity alongside Twilight, taking note of a puzzled expression on her face.

"Rarity, what's the matter?" Twilight asked, touching her gently on the shoulder.

"I... oh, maybe the work today's getting to me..."

"Go on, tell us." Applejack said, pushing the matter with a piqued brow.

"I... could have sworn that cat had two tails."

"Yeah, maybe you really _did_fry your brain today." Rainbow Dash said from behind them, looking to Fluttershy, whose head was now cocked up to the sky as opposed to the ground. "Fluttershy?"

"Someone's launching fireworks." she said, the words enough to bring the whole room to the window. The fireworks were beautiful, but strange, as blue and red lights fired across the evening sky against the light from the moon, keeping to a rather monotonous pattern.

It was then that a sweeping darkness overtook the lights from a place they had been heavily concentrated, resembling stars and engulfing them in their entirety before the lights began to repopulate.

"That was Luna!" Celestia exclaimed, urgency in her voice. "Something's attacking her!"

"Attacking the princess?" Twilight asked, bewildered by the thought. "Who would do something so insane?"

"I dunno, but they're gonna get their tail kicked I bet!" Rainbow Dash said with confidence to spare.

"I'm not waiting for that to happen." Princess Celestia said, the glow of her own magic lighting up from her horned staff and spreading over her body as she walked towards the balcony doors. "I trust in Luna's abilities, but whoever's doing this..."  
>"... It's similar to the magic you were talking about, isn't it, Princess?" Twilight asked. Her only confirmation was a glance from the princess, all she needed as she broke into a run and leapt off the balcony, taking off with speed comparable to Rainbow Dash's with the aid of her magic propelling her further off of each wing beat. Twilight stared after her a moment, before looking to the others.<p>

"Let's hope that the balloon can still carry us, we're going too!"

* * *

><p>Princess Luna had never encountered anything like this. In the earliest days of Equestria, when Discord ruled and she and her sister battled the lord of chaos and disorder, she had faced life-threatening dangers alongside Celestia, both from the elements unrestrained by his own brand of madness, and from the powers of the mad draconequus himself. Although hazy, her memories as Nightmare Moon, a thousand years past and present, never yielded a battle like this, against the royal guards, her sister, the Elements of Harmony, this creature she fought left her reeling with its strange tactics. The attacks were not powerful, but endless in number. Her phantasmal hair clung to her face in places drenched with sweat, her eyes glowing with the power of her magic, and wings singed from grazing the array of attacks. The midnight blue and black-trimmed gown that had been commissioned for her was in tatters, the sash tied around her waist and with her cutie mark embroidered in it hanging by a few thin strips of cloth. Her gauntlets, boots, collar, crown and staff were black steel, all designed to mirror her sister's wear while emphasizing her status as the lady of the night. The only offset in the staff's design was the moon replacing the mounted phoenix, a moon swirling with the magic of the night as she tore through the sky, weaving in and out of the rapid fire shots.<p>

She flipped in the air as the creature's familiar, a child in red dress and green cap sporting cat ears and _two _tails, came at her, flipping rapidly through the air. A quick beat of her wings put her off to the side, out of the way as the child stopped in the air and unleashed an array of magical bolts before coming at her again.

"_Enough of this!"_Luna bellowed, her voice thundering through the air as she brought her staff back around and swung at the child with the full force of her might behind it, engulfing her in celestial magic before blowing her across the sky, through the shots her mistress had been attempting to strike her down with, straight at her.

"Chen!" the woman cried, abandoning her assault and vanishing in a flash, catching the child in mid-flight and retreating a ways back, the first break Luna had in the action since she'd gone out to raise the moon for the evening. She took that time to collect herself, to better evaluate the opponent she faced. A woman with blonde hair, tall, with a cap pointed on two sides. If she were to judge by the nine golden tails sprouting from her backside and the similarities with the cat child, then they must have been the ears of a fox beneath that cover. A white robe with blue-cuffed bell sleeves, a blue tabard with some foreign dialect embroidered upon it, and white boots with blue cuffs covered her body, not necessarily a strong looking form, but then, with magic, one's physical body rarely counted against the raw power within, and this fox woman had more than her lion's share of that.

"Lady Ran, I'm sorry..." The child, Chen, said, clearly in pain as she brought a hand where Luna had struck her.

"None of that, Chen..." Ran said, a rising anger in her voice. "As your master, I'm responsible for this, I called you to my aid." She released the girl gingerly, ensuring she could fly before turning her attention back to the princess. "Stay back, I'm going to use my last spell card."

Spell cards, Luna had already become familiar with, were elaborate, trap-filled attacks designed to throw off the target and catch them anywhere blind, or overwhelm them by the sheer number of the shots. The first of her cards had been what had done the bulk of the damage, something about twelve general gods or other, she couldn't be bothered to remember the details. This one she mentioned with such weight in her words, she could only assume it to be the best of her arsenal. The child beside her began to descend to the ground below, leaving the princess and the fox to their business.

From within her sleeve, Ran pulled out a piece of paper, on it scrawled a multitude of symbols and signs. Luna rose her staff, exercising patience as opposed to rushing the card, some had very sudden and explosive releases of power from the start. Ran brought the card before her eyes, seeming to channel her own magic into it before crushing it in her grip, the creature's eyes beginning to glow as she brought her arms together, tucking her hands in her sleeves and, with almost a hop in the air, took to sitting cross-legged as her tails splayed themselves out, and an aura of power emerged around her body.

"Illusion God, "Descent of Izuna Gongen"!"

No sooner than the words had left her lips did the attack begin, spraying an array of mystic bullets a full three-hundred and sixty degrees around her body in a progressing wave. Luna ascended, drawing her staff back and swinging down at the fox woman. From there it seemed that the night worked for her, darkness creeping out from the evening air in ethereal strands and assaulting the onslaught. Many of the shots were knocked away, several slipping through towards her. One pass of the bullets, then two, nothing of major concern seemed to be coming of the attack yet. However, as Luna was preparing to close the gap and draw her into close quarters, on the third wave, the spell strengthened. Massive red spheres, half as tall as she easily, tore through her ether and cleared the path for the onslaught before it. Luna brought her free hand forward, concentrating her spells around her body, forcing the shots to deflect off a hastily erected barrier. If she was to have any hope of success, she needed to break the fox's focus on the card.

_These spells seem to be elaborate nonsense, but they certainly do their jobs._ Luna spun her staff in hand before beating her wings and diving at the fox. _If she were to focus all of this power into dedicated attacks rather than this spray fire magic, I fear I'd be in for a more bothersome battle._Luna didn't even know if the fox was aware of that logic herself, but she'd not give the opportunity for her to become. As she drew in close, she thrust her staff forward, the horn tip piercing her barrier and absorbing the magic. Already another new wave of bullets, smaller and greater in number, came at her, and at the core of the attack she could see what resembled the makings of a fifth wave forming. She'd not allow that to come to fruition. In a decisive stroke, Luna shouted furiously and swung her staff out, unleashing raw, cosmic energy that fell as if shooting stars, piercing through the shots and raining down on her foe and all below her. If this was the full scope of her abilities, or the maximum of what she'd be willing to use, Luna would not waste anymore time. Each shot weaved and bolted at the fox from a different angle, taking at her from all sides, and each faux star came down to earth and exploded, not one striking her as she continued to focus on the attack, and yet somehow maintained the level of consciousness of her surroundings to evade injury. Every missed shot fell to the earth below, levelling whatever part of the open field it touched for yards around it.

"Lady Ran!"

Nothing was exempt from where she laid down fire, including the child now weaving between the blows, several times already only scarcely escaping them. What the assault failed to do directly, the cry of the woman's underling seemed to do thoroughly. Ran's eyes shot open just as Luna drew close, her staff reared back, horn poised to run through her torso before the fox flipped away, smacking Luna in the face with her tails and blinding her briefly as she reached up and wiped her face. It took a few seconds, but she managed to recompose herself, now hovering alone in the silent sky as the remainder of her own starry assault laid siege below. She locked eyes on the figure of the fox, just as she gathered up the cat-eared child and ascended, weaving through the last of the blasts and into the safety of the air.

"How _dare_you assault my shikigami like that!" Ran hissed as fury seethed in her eyes.

"How dare I? Says the craven who assaults me as I raise the moon, and then grievously wounds my guard, I say that little smack I gave your alley cat is more lenient than what her mistress' actions have wrought!"

"She's no more than a child!"

"Aye, a little hellspawn that one, takes right after her mistress!" Luna was prepared to say more, prepared to do more, but stopped as Ran's expression grew far more serious. Luna's focus on the two broke as Ran began to hover back.

"You needn't worry yourself, sister." Luna said, addressing Celestia as she hovered behind her, overshadowed by her by two heads height. "I am capable of disciplining lower beasts who know naught but insolence."

"Be that as it may, little sister, they were making you push." she said. Luna felt fingers brush gently over her shoulder, forcing herself to keep from cringing away in some pain. "Nevermind that I couldn't simply let my only sister stand without my support."

Luna let slip a faint smile before fixing her focus once again. "These are not beings of Equestria, sister, they employ some other magic and are capable of shifting form between animal and... this, at will."

"You've witnessed this power?"

"In the small one, yes, just moments before you arrived." She watched Celestia fly forward, just a bit to stand beside her, glancing out the corner of her eyes to see a grave expression on her face.

"Then you sound as though you may have answers to questions a great many of my subjects have right now." Celestia said flatly, the glow of magic wrapping around her staff, shining with the same brilliant radiance as the sun she rose and set every day. "Luna, I ask that you rest now and leave the rest to me."

"Sister-"

"Luna, please." Celestia said, her tone initially firm, before she turned full to face her, prepared to challenge and stand her ground, before seeing the concern in her elder sister's eyes mixed with the stone visage she had donned at the fox. "You have fought bravely tonight, there is certainly no question of your capability to handle yourself in my mind. I simply ask that you share this burden with me, my sister."

It was more than that, she could tell. Celestia could be hard, she had all the potential, knowledge, and years of experience to put on a face that would give pause to even the most dread of her foes, but Luna also knew her heart better than anyone else, and just how deep things ran, the regrets she carried, even when Luna knew certain things were in no way anything she ought to have shouldered any blame for.

"... I'll concede, Celestia." she said, wearing a faint smile for her. She could see one of the elder princess' own make a quick tug at her lips before falling back into focus. Luna drifted back a little bit.

"You will be brought to court in Canterlot to be tried for your crimes, and the attempt on Princess Luna's life." Celestia said, her eyes going alight for a moment before returning to normal. "My guards will be here shortly. Until then, I would suggest that the best thing in you and your companion's interests be cooperation, as I _will_be overseeing the trial personally."

"Her Highness may just be mixing business with pleasure." Ran said, her tone sparing no amusement or jest, strictly curt and to the point.

"Perhaps, but you will be given a fair and impartial trial. Consider yourself fortunate I don't fancy myself a tyrant, I could very easily have terrible things fall upon your shoulders."

Luna glanced over her shoulders, seeing a silhouette closing in from afar. She had to squint to make it out, focusing on it rather than the continued talk of procedure and consequence between Celestia and the fox woman. There were two winged figures flying ahead of a much larger object, towing it in fact, through the air. Luna was a fair deal baffled for a moment before she saw the colors of a rainbow colored mane coming into focus alongside one of a powdery pink color. Right away, she identified the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, her saviors, and as recently as the last Nightmare Night, a few among them her newfound friends, the others she hoped to meet more personally someday. Perhaps after all was said and done with the bizarre events where the fox and cat were involved, she could rectify that.

Luna looked forward, refocusing her attention on the two creatures, trying to catch onto the conversation where she had abandoned it in her mind, before eying the cat. While her mistress' face was set in stone as Celestia spoke to her, the child's eyes had wandered. She could only wonder where to, considering they were hundreds of feet in the air over an open, now pock-marked field. Luna's own gaze turned up, her eyes widening at the sight. Poised directly above Celestia was some strange hole in the sky, pinched at two ends with ribbon, with countless eyes staring down from within. She thought for a moment she could make out a silhouette, instead watching as dozens of lights, half red and half blue, began to glow from within.

"_Celestia!_" Luna cried, beating her wings and soaring the short distance between them in an instant, slamming into her and knocking her aside as the piercing sound of the assault shot through the air. Gathering as much of her own magic as she could, she rose her staff overhead to block the sudden attack, a veil of darkness and stars beginning to bleed over her in the shape of a shell. It was a futile gesture ultimately. The attack struck, knocking her down briefly before the barrier buckled, over a dozen beam strikes slamming into her and sending her careening to the earth below. With a thunderous crash ringing in her ears, the world faded to black.

* * *

><p>"<em>Luna, no!"<em>the princess hovering a short ways from her shrieked, all of that royal composure straight out the window. Ran had bid her time as best she could, and it paid off. Wasting no time on words, she tore off towards the gap in the sky, the attacks ceased and giving her what she needed to see that she and Chen were given passage home. This mission had ended in failure, and though she would already have to make that report if her mistress insisted on it, the priority was to tend to their wounds. They entered the gap, and it snapped shut, not a moment too soon. Just before entry, the air had been rapidly growing thick with the energy from the winged princess. She was certain she had done something, but had no idea what.

The only thing that mattered as she was home, standing outside of a large and beautiful Japanese house. Indeed, it was as much as her mistress deserved for the years she had maintained order, maintained the barrier that allowed their world to exist and gave youkai such as she and Chen a chance, at a time when the true world beyond its borders had grown increasingly adept at running their kind off, exterminating them with prejudice, and upsetting the supernatural balance of power that had been in place for millenia.

"Lady Yukari!" Ran called, her ears pricked up beneath her hat to listen for her mistress' voice. Nothing. She heaved a sigh, looking to Chen, fallen unconscious in her arms from exhaustion, and between her injuries and the events of their trip, she could hardly blame the little cat. She had asked much of her shikigami, and Chen delivered in full.

"Yes, she has." she heard a voice from behind say, turning slowly and bowing at the waist as much as the child in her arms would allow. A blonde woman had appeared, dressed in a white gown with flared out sleeves, a violet tabard embroidered with the image of a violet and yellow yin-yang, among other symbols, leather heeled boots, and a white, frilled cap with a ribbon tied into a large bow on the front, other smaller ribbons hanging off of various groupings of her long hair. "Enough of that, Ran, you did well today. Let's put Chen to bed now, and call over that doctor from Eientei for the both of you."

Ran rose, allowing Yukari to start ahead of her, following behind her and to the left, her expression stoic and her voice silent. They walked along the outer corridors of the household, passing room after room for a few moments of quiet.  
>"You can speak, Ran. I'm not going to pry into my shikigami's mind every time something's wrong, I respect you that much."<p>

Ran detected the hint of humor in her mistress' voice, something that brought a bleak smile to her face before she closed her eyes, her ears lying flat. "I failed in my mission to defeat the lunar princess, Lady Yukari. I've shamed you, that you've had to go out of your way to rescue us."

"Are you saying you would rather I have let you and Chen be captive, likely executed, by the sisters?" Yukari asked, glancing over her shoulder briefly, before looking forward. Silence again until they stopped, the youkai's mistress opening a sliding door and entering the room. "This was my idea anyways, Ran, you have nothing to apologize to me for."

Ran offered a cautious nod in response as she followed Yukari in, kneeling down by a wall and setting Chen gently up against it. She rose, heading to a closet nearby to begin laying out her shikigami's futon.

"A world like that... What made you choose it, Lady Yukari?"

"My, my," Yukari responded in her usual manner, one Ran had become familiar with whenever she had heard something interesting, or was preparing to dodge questions. "where does this question come from?"

"Curiousity, Lady Yukari." Ran said straight-forwardly, ever the pointed one. "I mean no disrespect, but this seems a bit much over a show off of that box that the Moriya shrine maiden was speaking of."

"I personally think the television was a wonderful addition to the home, and Rinnosuke had no trouble parting with it for the proper price." Yukari said. "And we'd never see such interesting creatures in Gensokyo, you said it yourself."

_"Lady Yukari, I mean no disrespect, but you know as well as I that for something to physically exist within Gensokyo's borders, it had to have lived and been regarded as fantasy outside of the border the same."_Yes, Ran remembered all too well saying those words, she regretted them a bit, they had spurred Yukari to pursue the interest. As she straightened the futon on the floor, she returned to the closet, grabbing night clothes from within before she walked over to Chen, removing her cap and beginning to undress her.

"Is this something along the lines of when you challenged the vampire household to head to the moon against the Watatsuki sisters?"

"Perhaps." Yukari said.

Ran looked to Yukari a moment as she pulled a nightgown on over Chen's head. "May I at least ask why choose a world so difficult to accommodate? You had to alter so many borders to make it as it was."

"Yes, the Border of Man and Beast to change their forms, of Knowledge and Ignorance so they knew just what they were doing with them, and then there was Time and Space to allow you two to travel, and Comprehension and Confusion so you could speak... At least, I'm fairly certain they didn't speak Japanese."

"Lady Yukari-"

"In fact, thinking of all of that, I believe that I'll take a nap myself... I imagine by the time I awaken, Chen and your wounds should be healed. We can try again shortly after that."

"Yes, Lady Yukari." Ran said with practiced precision and a sigh to follow as she scooped her shikigami into her arms, walking over to her futon and lying her in it. The light in the room dimmed as the sliding door shut with Yukari's exit. Her mistress had entirely evaded her questions with the practiced mannerisms that in the last several centuries Ran had come to know so well. It could be frustrating, at times, she acknowledged that much. Sometimes it seemed like the great youkai she served, responsible with the original Hakurei shrine maiden for the creation of the barrier that isolated their world from the rest, had been losing her marbles. Time and again however, she had proven to act with eccentric brilliance that had left her foes guessing just as much as her allies.  
><em>This isn't over.<em> Ran thought to herself, reaching down and brushing Chen's bangs out of her face. She leaned over, planting a kiss on her forehead before rising and exiting the room. She walked to the edge of the open-air corridor and stepped off, taking to the air in the direction of the bamboo forest that housed the residents of Eientei, to include the princess, rabbit and doctor from their own moon, the latter of whom she hoped would be fast to tend to their injuries. _We'll return to Equestria, and Lady Yukari will undoubtedly have something else up her sleeve. I need only trust in my mistress._


	2. Challenge

**My Little Illusion**

_Challenge_

Twilight Sparkle stood in solemn silence in the halls of Canterlot's royal castle. She, accompanied by the rest of her friends, were waiting on word of Princess Luna's condition. It had been some time already, over an hour at bare minimum must have passed, and there was no word of anything. It didn't help that, as they stood outside of the door that led to the princess' private wing of the great mountain keep, the only things they saw come and go were hurried nurses and doctors, several former unicorns, some of either group bedraggled and half awake, and the guards accompanying them.

_Of course, what else could we expect?_ she thought to herself, twiddling her thumbs anxiously as she recollected the final moment of the standoff between the two princesses and the strange, tailed creatures they addressed. 

* * *

><p>"We're almost there," Twilight said as she held tightly to onto the air balloon's basket. The princesses were at a standoff with the tailed creatures, creatures that somehow managed to take to the sky without wings. There would be time for speculation and wonder over that last detail after the situation was drawn down to a close. She made note to research how that was even possible once this fiasco was over. She reached blindly to her side, grasping at a pouch Rarity had delivered earlier in the evening and drawing her wand from it, readying it as her head turned to her friends. "Be ready for anything you guys."<p>

"Ya don' have ta tell us twice." Applejack stepped to the balloon's front and stood alongside Twilight. "How ya holdin' up out there Rainbow, Fluttershy?"

"No problem!" Rainbow Dash hollered back, towing them along with Fluttershy aside her, each bearing the bulk of the rope's load on a shoulder. "Sure beats doing this with your teeth!"

"M, maybe we should keep back here," Fluttershy said, her voice carrying in the wind like a whisper that left them straining to hear. "We don't want to get in the way..."

"You know," Rarity said chimed in from the back of the balloon's basket. "Fluttershy may have a point. Well meaning or no, it might be best if we remained as back-up, don't you think?"

Twilight's attention fixed on the her fellow magic user and her suggestion. It did have some merit to it, and she opened her mouth to say such.

"The hay is that?" Rainbow Dash called from the front, her attention, all their attentions, facing back forward from the dilemma of their next step to behold red and blue lights cutting through the evening sky, bearing down on the solar princess from above. In the span of a few seconds, Princess Luna had lunged at Celestia, knocking her aside and turning to face the array head on, already casting her own spells with speed and power that had left Twilight with a sense of awe. She couldn't stifle the wonder of witnessing the great might of the former alicorn princess.

That same wonder was washed away in a wave of horror. As quickly as the younger sister erected the magical barrier to protect herself, her barrier shattered and the onslaught swallowed her. It drove her down, carrying her until it met with a devastating crash into the pock-marked field below. Time seemed to grind to a halt for Twilight as the reality of that instant tried to sink in, as her mind tried to comprehend the sour truth.

_"Luna!"_

Time began again with a start. Princess Celestia's voice tore through the night sky in a raw and powerful display of emotion, the likes of which her student had never beheld from the ever composed princess of the sun. She looked on, watching as the fox-tailed creature began to soar up, aiming for what looked to be a hole in the sky riddled with eyes.

"Hold it!" Rainbow Dash snapped, abandoning her tow line and taking off with such force the balloon rocked in her wake. Fast though the former pegasus may have been, the pacing didn't match up, she'd never catch them. Instead, Twilight's eyes turned to the ground, where the prone figure of the princess of the night was barely visible, entwined amongst rubble and earth in a smoking hot crater.

"Fluttershy," she said, looking to the remaining flyer, her face drenched with tears and body trembling so violently she seemed to struggle to remain aloft. Swallowing her own nerves, she leaned out over the edge of the balloon. "Fluttershy!" That seemed to get her attention, and her head turned slowly to Twilight. "Go to Princess Luna, help her! We'll be down with you as soon as Pinkie can land the balloon!"

There was a pause, only for a second or two, before timid girl nodded and began to descend to the earth below. Content with that, Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie, the unnerved smile on her face not escaping her notice. "Pinkie, can you get us down?"

"S, sure!" the party girl affirmed. She pushed off the basket's edge and took to unsteady legs, stumbling a bit as she grasped at the controls. It wasn't hard to see that even for she who had been linked to the Element of Laughter, this was a jarring experience.

Within a few moments time, the balloon had touched down, landed with practiced expertise on a flat untouched by the battle. By the time they had arrived at the mouth of the impact site, Rainbow Dash and Princess Celestia had joined Fluttershy in pulling Luna from amidst the ruined earth.

"I, I don't know what to do, Twilight," Fluttershy whimpered, looking up to her friends with fresh tears on her cheeks. "I don't... I know a little about ponies and... these, but Princess Luna, she..."

"Don' tell me they got 'er?" Applejack inquired as she came up alongside their winged companions.

"No, but, but she's really hurt..." The timid young lady took the felled princess by the shoulders and lifted her, only slightly. The cry of pain was heart-rending, Fluttershy doing all she could not to drop the princess back down out of fear.

"We have to get her outta here, Fluttershy." her fellow flyer said, her hands finding her old friend's and helping to lift the princess to sit up, a long howl of pain accompanying every slight shift.

Twilight looked to Princess Celestia, taking note of her silence through all of this, and it was no wonder why, with the expression on her face. Reserved as her mentor was trying to be, her sister's anguished cry seemed to have only added to the heightened dread risen up in her face. "Princess Celestia?"

That brought her around. A quick close of her eyes and a sharp breath later, and she knelt down, handing off her staff to her student. Offering a silent nod of thanks to the two once-pegasi, she scooped her beaten sister into her arms and rose with her.  
>"Hold on, Luna, we'll have you back in Canterlot as quickly as we can."<p>

* * *

><p>'We' had indeed meant all of them, Celestia had insisted that they come. After gathering the remains of Luna's staff and horn from the rubble nearby, the guard Celestia had called to bring in the assailants arrived. As their party prepared to leave, the guards were instead tasked with tending to the two guards of Luna's envoy. Rainbow Dash, in the mean time, had been ordered to fly ahead with the sun princess' crown in hand. With the crown acting as a sign of Celestia's decree, she was to order the medical staff be ready upon their arrival, and ready they had been. No sooner had they touched down in Canterlot than had Luna and her guard been taken on gurneys by the awaiting doctors and nurses, the guards to a local hospital, and the princess hurried to she and Celestia's private wing of the castle. The bearers of the Elements had been permitted to follow to the wing's door, and now sat in anxious wait of news.<p>

"Twilight?"

Her head turned across the hall to Rainbow Dash, where she sat with Fluttershy asleep against her, head on the speedster's shoulder and tears long dried on her cheeks. "Yes, Rainbow Dash?"

"What..." She trailed off, casting her gaze to the ground for a second and taking a breath, before turning her magenta eyes back to Twilight's own amethyst ones. "What happens now?"

"I..." Twilight only made it so far, lowering her head and pinching her brow together in thought. She could feel the eyes of the others fall on her, expecting something from her the same way that the fastest among them did. When finally she opened her eyes, she spoke softly and unsurely. "I don't know. What we've seen tonight... What happened tonight, I don't know what to make of it. I've studied in Princess Celestia's school since I was a filly, I've read through dozens and dozens of books, and nothing like what we faced has ever been chronicled in history, myth or otherwise. If they're the ones responsible for, for this..." Twilight raised her hands, staring at them ponderously as she flexed her fingers before her eyes. "If they were in some way responsible for changing us into these bodies, just what else could they be capable of?"

"We gotta be able to use the Elements of Harmony now though, right?" Rainbow asked. "You saw what they did to Princess Luna, that's as good as war!"

"We dunno if they'll work fer this, Rainbow," Applejack said, her tone sober and arms folded over her chest. "Even if they do, how d'we know they're even strong enough?"

"You can't be serious, Applejack?" Rarity asked, bewilderment in her face. "They broke that terrible... thing, that had Princess Luna acting the brute over a thousand years ago, and single-handedly undid all of the damage Discord did to Equestria in a flash; quite literally at that."

"I think she's got the right of it." Twilight stood off of the wall and stepped forward, standing between the lot of her friends in the middle of the hall and gazing around to them. "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both boast enough magical power to raise the moon and sun respectively, and we just saw what happened tonight; she was completely overwhelmed by that attack from that gap, or whatever it was. We don't know where those things came from, some unknown region of the world, maybe even another one entirely, who knows?"

"Now _that's_ the craziest thing I've heard today," Rainbow said with no hint of humor in her tone.

"Crazier than waking up stark naked and bald everywhere other than your head?" Twilight retorted. She stopped there, hearing the groan of door hinges. Her head, as well as the others', turned to face the door to the castle's private wing, their eyes fixating upon one of the royal guards, clad in gold-plated centurion armor as all of Celestia's guard were.

"Princess Celestia has requested your presence in the royal chambers."

* * *

><p>The sight upon their arrival to the princess' chamber inspired little more than unsettled nerves. Twilight noted the guards within a mix of Celestia's own, in the gold plated armor, and Luna's, in black steel, and medical equipment surrounding one of two beds in the grandiose room. Princess Celestia sat on that bed next to the prone form of her little sister, her hands gently holding one of Luna's own. Armor, crown and staff had been stripped and set aside, leaving her in her gown, stained by soil and blood where she had held the younger princess close during their return to Canterlot.<p>

Taking a breath to steady herself, Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, a move her friends dared not mimic. Although they were her dearest friends, wielders of the very Elements of Harmony that Celestia had used centuries past, and had been shown great favor in her teacher's eyes, they remained her subjects. That was a line Twilight had crossed when she was young and taken under the princess' wing, in a manner of speaking. Twilight knew her teacher beyond the royal front and formalities, and thought nothing of what others thought as she came and up beside her trusted teacher.

Being so close drew the princess' attention from Luna momentarily, earning a weary smile. "My most faithful student," she said, her voice breaking slightly. Twilight nodded, wearing as warm a smile as she could in hopes it would do something for her teacher. Instead, the princess' head turned away. "I wish to speak privately with my student and her friends." Those words were all it took. The room emptied out in a few short moments, doctors, guards, waiting staff, all of them outside. Only as the heavy doors to the chambers close did Celestia speak again. "You can all come forward. I have no need or want for formalities right now; we need to speak frankly." She turned her eyes back to Luna, reaching out and running a hand through her sisters hair, the celestial sheen disappeared and once more a shiftless cornflower blue. "Luna has been injured seriously. There's no fear for her life, but it will be sometime before she will be able to assume her role in bringing night to Equestria. In light of that, I will be managing both sun and moon while she recovers."

"However, I will need the Elements of Harmony to be ready at any time," Celestia said, turning her eyes back to the six with a grave expression on her face. "Equestria has largely known peace for generations. Isolated incidents have ever occurred, and your generation has, by far, been endangered more than any others in recent history. For better or worse, Nightmare Moon and Discord have left their marks, especially upon the six of you. You've grown so much, matured and learned valuable lessons." A smile began to show on Celestia's face as she spoke. "You recall, Twilight, what I told you in my letter the day prior to the Summer Sun Festival?"

"Of course, Princess Celestia." she responded without missing a beat. How could she forget? It had been the letter that had thrown everything into motion, a simple order to supervise preparations of the festival, essentially get her out of her quarters in Canterlot, and had given her the opportunity to meet her five best friends.

_"The fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends."_Even at that moment, standing in the bedchambers of the princesses, the irony of her words then made her smile now. It seemed apparent that Princess Celestia could see the knowledge of that in her smile, giving a quiet nod of approval.

"In the last months you have all faced trials of personal character, and it makes me proud and confident that the Elements of Harmony chose their wearers wisely." The solar princess' smile began to fade as she released Luna's hand, rising up to her feet and looking over her guests. Once more, her expression grew dire as her posture straightened up. "Which is why I will be placing so much faith in you in the future. I have no doubt in my mind that this is not the last we have seen of those two, nor of whatever it was that provided them means of escape and left my sister in this condition. I will need you all to be ready for whatever may come in the future."

"With all due respect, Princess," Applejack interjected. "D'ya figure the Elements'll be enough fer this? Those two could fly and use magic and everythin'."

"I don't know, Applejack." the princess responded, taking a breath to ease herself. "I've seen a great many things over the course of my life. What happened tonight is unlike anything I've ever encountered in the past. However, when those things return, or should there be more like them, we have to be prepared."

"B... but how?" Fluttershy stammered, firmly clutching one of Rainbow Dash's hands with both of her own. "They already hurt Princess Luna so badly..."

"I know, my child." There was a pause as the princess looked to the bed. "I understand I'm placing a heavy burden on your shoulders. If I could have it any other way, I would bring them to justice for their crimes myself, and I wholly intend to be at the forefront of whatever may come of this. Guards will be posted all throughout Equestria in a state of alert, and if there are any strange movements then they will be the first to know, and react. None of you are formally trained to deal with any situation like this, and you're all still so young."

"But we'll be ready anyways." Rainbow Dash blurted out, the abruptness turning heads in the room to her. She stared back, clearly a bit dumbfounded by all of the attention her words had suddenly gathered, before a fire grew in her eyes. "Hey, we've run off dragons on request before, right? It's not like it's the first time we've been asked to handle something bigger than us."

"Oh, don't forget the hydra!" Pinkie volunteered, moving her arms in some attempt to imitate three of its four heads. "That grumpy old lizard didn't stand a chance against Twilight, she's smarter with one head than it was with four!"

Twilight laughed awkwardly as the gazes of the room fell to her, recalling it without the slight luster of glory Pinkie Pie put on it; all she did was run at it, and then run away. Student looked to teacher, noting her cocked eyebrow and smirk.

"Hydras, Twilight?"

"What they're getting at, Princess Celestia," the lavender hair girl stated with a quickness, attempting to redirect the conversation. "Is that we'll be ready, for whatever you need us for. We'll be ready to do whatever Equestria needs of us."

"Thank you, Twilight," the princess said before looking back to the rest of the party. "Thank you, all of you. It brings me ease to hear that. Now, I do believe it's been a long enough day, for you all. I've already arranged for you to stay in the castle tonight, so that you can return to Ponyville tomorrow fully refreshed. It's the least I can do to show my gratitude for your efforts tonight. Ask for Stalwart among the guard, and he'll escort you to your rooms."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia." Twilight's attention turned to Luna's unconscious form, surveying what was not concealed by bedsheets one last time before looking over her shoulder to her friends. "I think we'll all be taking up that offer now."

"Of course, my most faithful student," the princess responded, setting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently before letting it drop to her side again. "On your way out, I also ask that you tell the staff waiting outside to take a short break. They've worked hard, and this late certainly deserve that much."

Twilight acknowledged her words with a nod as her friends gave quick, but cordial, bows and turned towards the hall. She followed after them slowly, the last to reach the door. She began to close it, then paused. Casting her gaze over her shoulder to Celestia, she studied her silently.

"Is there a problem, Twilight?" the princess asked.

"Uh... no, princess, I was just..." the young lady shook her head, putting on a broader smile. "Sorry. Good night, Princess Celestia."

* * *

><p>As the door shut with Twilight's departure, Princess Celestia stood tall and alone in the room, save the prone form of her sister on the bed at her side. Taking a breath, she gave a quick flit of her hand in the direction of the door, hearing the distant click of the lock sliding into place. It was simple, easy enough to undo by any of the magically gifted among her court, but over centuries and through watching generation after generation of her castle staff, she knew the gesture was enough to indicate what she wanted if the suggestion of a break did not. Taking advantage of her moment of privacy, the chromatic-haired woman eased herself onto the bed, reaching out and taking Luna's hand gently into her own once again.<p>

It made her heart ache, to feel the weak pulse as her fingers slid over her wrist, to behold the countless bandages and casting that had been set to help her heal. The slow beep of the heart monitor in the room was, for her, a hellish mixture of relief and slow-building annoyance. The ache only worsened as she recalled why Luna was in the bed; why she wasn't there in her place.

"It's as much my fault for my carelessness," Celestia muttered, rubbing a thumb over the back of Luna's hand. "As it is those creatures' for assaulting you in the first place. You never deserved this, any of it. Not now, and..." Her eyes closed as she trailed off a moment, taking another, slower breath to calm her nerves. "And most certainly not back then..."

"I've often told myself I did what had to be done, for your own good, for the good of Equestria. As we each proceeded with our duties, I was blind to your suffering, to the pain you kept to yourself, that I should have noticed so much sooner..." She lowered her head, placing her forehead against the lunar princess' hand. "I failed you back then as your sister, and for that, you paid a price I would have never in any number of millenia wished upon you. After a thousand years, I finally have you back at my side." Celestia's body trembled as she took another deep breath. "And after a thousand years, my inattentiveness has still gotten you hurt..."

Celestia's hands moved, lying Luna's atop her chest before releasing it. The longtime monarch set her hand aside her sister and leaned forward, parting her little sister's bangs with the other and placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Little sister," Celestia said with a wavering voice. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

><p>"I need to speak to your mistress, fox." Reimu Hakurei said flatly, standing down Ran with a complete lack of intimidation or regard for the nine-tailed creature before her. Shikigami to one of the eldest youkai in Gensokyo or not, Reimu had soundly thrashed her in their spell card battles in the past, and would do it again without a thought. True to the moniker 'Red-White', as some would call her, she was dressed in her red, white-collared blouse, red, white frilled skirt, and in her soot black hair, a red, white frilled ribbon, perhaps the starkest contrast the detached white kimono sleeves that covered all but her shoulders, and the one fist clutching her gohei, her ritual wand, ready in hand.<p>

"I believe we've had this discussion in the past, priestess," Ran said, her hands folded in her sleeves as she stood between Reimu and the long corridors of her mistress' house. "Lady Yukari sleeps during the day, and it is not my place to disturb her."

"Well, then, I suppose that leaves the job to me." Reimu stepped off, preparing to walk around Ran, stopping cold as a clawed hand shot out before her.

"Your insolence will not be tolerated today, Reimu Hakurei. My master is resting."

"Normally when a dog is wounded their master picks up some of the slack," Reimu shot a sideways glance up at her taller adversary. "Perhaps I should have brought some tofu snacks with my danmaku."

"I suppose that just means you'll have to leave and go get some. Take your time."

"After all the trouble of coming here from the shrine, it would be a shame to leave without greeting Yukari." The Hakurei priestess' eyes narrowed. "It might make the conversation more difficult if I performed an extermination on her shikigami."

"If you think for a moment that I-"

"Ran."

Priestess and youkai's heads turned, eyes falling upon Yukari Yakumo, a simple yukata all that kept her decent as she held her arms folded beneath her breasts.

"I need to speak with you." Reimu repeated to the mistress as she had the servant. Her brows knit themselves together as Yukari chuckled, wearing a lazy smile.

"I was expecting you at any rate, so I meant to sleep light for the next day or two, see if you showed. Ran, ease off."

Reimu looked to Ran, a smugness coming over her face only at that she'd been granted the audience that the nine-tails had forbade her seconds ago. As the guardian's arm dropped and eyes closed, the red-white priestess proceeded past, the air of arrogance at her permission to proceed fading back to a stern expression.

"What did you do last night, Yukari?" Reimu asked, straight to the point.

"A number of things, Reimu," the gap youkai responded with a smile. "I eat dinner, I spend time with my shikigami, there are orders of business that do require my atte-"

"Don't play dumb with me, Yukari," she snapped, cutting off the sleepy-eyed woman. "I felt your presence disappear. I had to get up because whatever you were doing weakened the Great Hakurei Barrier. I was up for an hour performing rituals to strengthen it last night."

"Your natural prowess with spiritual power certainly is well used,." Yukari said, moving to sit back. In an instant, a thin sliver of a gap appeared beneath her, lifting just slightly as she crossed one leg over the other. "However, you should know well enough that I would never intentionally put Gensokyo in jeopardy. After all, creating the barrier with your ancestors required enough work as it was back then, I don't have much interest in repeating the process." She reached into the sleeve of her yukata, pulling a small fan out and unfolding it with a flick of her wrist.

"So then you _did_ do something." Reimu's grip on her gohei tightened.

"A private project, nothing that you should be concerned about. Just a little entertainment to help the time pass."

Reimu sighed in exasperation, raising the ritual wand between the two of them as if in challenge to her several times ally's fan. "Listen," she demanded of the blonde, "I didn't come all this way to be blown off with "It's a private project", Yukari. I'm not naive to your abilities or your knack for hiding things. Why don't you tell me how your shikigami took on those wounds?"

"Oh, Reimu," Yukari sighed, closing her eyes. "If you absolutely _must_know, she got into a scrap with some moon princess. Nasty affair even with her spell cards."

"Dredging into the phoenix's territory there, aren't you?" Reimu lowered her ritual tool, somewhat pacified by this compliance.

"Oh, the fiery little thing's her pet, nothing to worry about."

Now she was more taken aback than pacified. It was one thing to have an opinion, but it sounded like she was speaking outright fact.

"Of course, then the one bound to the Sun had to show..."

_Wait, bound to the Sun?_ Reimu stared wide-eyed. _Not that dimwitted Hell Raven from the underground?_"Stop it, just, stop." A hand rose over her face, closing her eyes and taking a breath. "So you're telling me that Kaguya, Mokou and the Satori youkai's bird gave those wounds to your shikigami?"

"Absolutely not."

Reimu's hand dropped straight to her side, her eyes now wider than before and with genuine anger welling behind them. "But you just said-"

"Reimu, why would I have Ran go all the way to Eientei to pick a fight with that spoiled exile and miserable immortal human?" Yukari cocked her head to one side. "How you got the Hell Raven into that equation baffles me."

"Stop dancing around the subject! We've only got a handful of beings from the moon in Gensokyo and only one of them is a spoiled princess, what else could you _possibly_mean?" Reimu stood there in silence, waiting for an answer from the ancient youkai, only to watch her head turn towards the trees at the edge of the estate.

"We may have to hold the details, I'd really rather not have the paparazzi involved in this."

Those words came as quickly as the blast of wind that tore past them. Reimu braced her footing and rose an arm to cover her face, watching past debris and leaves as two black and white streaks cut through the sky spraying danmaku at the other. The beauty of the art was forsaken for the haphazardness of the chase.

"So in the end she couldn't keep her away after all..." the red-white grumbled, stepping to the edge of the walk, preparing to take off.

"No need, Reimu, I can handle this."

The priestess looked over her shoulder to Yukari, cocking an eyebrow curiously as she watched her yellow eyes glow ever so slightly with the use of her true power. In an instant, she heard a thunderous crash that made her cringe. She looked ahead again, finding the two culprits laid out across each other in a shallow ditch, leading to one of the gaps for which Yukari controlled by simple force of will.

"Ayayayaaaa..." one of the pained girls whined, pulling herself from atop the other as she grabbed a tiny red tokin hat from the ground, dusting it off. "It's rude to interrupt business like that."

"You're not kiddin'..." the blonde human beneath her groaned, pushing herself upright. "You oughtta watch where you're goin', danmaku's not a contact sport you know. Coulda really hurt someo-Hey!"

Ran, who had been silent and patient all this time, had taken the initiative as she hauled the two combatants up by the collars of their shirts. Neither's feet touched the ground, cleared by a good foot easily. "Lady Yukari, what do you want done with these two?"

"Mm, I don't really feel like eating crow tonight. What do you suggest, Reimu?"

Reimu heaved a sigh, stepping off the walk and floating over to the three, the blonde human in particular. Dressed in a black skirt set and white apron completely soiled by the crash, the single braid in her long hair hung only loosely hanging together beside her face. Her hat and broom lay at opposite ends of the property, and the Hakurei priestess was not impressed.

"Couldn't handle the tengu for a single hour, huh, Marisa?"

"Well ya just kinda flew over with her on your tail, what'm I supposed to expect on short notice?" Marisa's arms folded across her chest. "Ya didn't have to sic Yukari on us."

"She volunteered. I was just going to knock you both out of the sky while you were busy with each other."

Marisa only snickered in response, typical of the cocky western-style witch. She shifted her attention to the subject of her problems, frowning more openly as she watched her idly fuss with stains on her white blouse and black skirt. Looking down further, the priestess took notice Ran took extra care to ensure not even the tips of the stilted geta she walked on could touch the ground.

"Aya." Reimu regarded her coldly.

"Reimu, it's so nice to see you!" the tengu replied, lacing her fingers together and cocking her head to one side with a warm smile. "Could you maybe persuade our foxy friend here to let an aspiring journalist be on her way?"

"Leaving so soon?" Reimu's eyebrow cocked as she kicked a foot out, tossing up a camera from the trench and swiping it out of the air. "You were dogging me earlier."

"Well, you know how it is, when there's a scoop..."

"I wonder how this thing works." She set to work fidgeting with it. "For a crow like you I can't imagine it's too difficult to figure out." She grabbed at a long part in the front, beginning to pull on it.

"A, ah, hey, wait, if you pull the lens like that you'll break it!" Aya reached out and swiped for it, only for Reimu to hover back a small bit, just out of reach of the increasingly frustrated captive.

"You think? Maybe I should, considering how you harass everyone in Gensokyo with your nonsense."

"Nah," Marisa interjected. "Nitori'll just fix her up another one, ya know? The kappa're pretty good with this techno-junk."

"C, come on Reimu, what about when I helped you in the underground, isn't that worth anything?" Aya pleaded, putting clear effort in trying not to sound pathetic and trying to gloss it over with a good humored tone. "Miss Fox, you understand, don't you?" Just how important a journalist's tools are?"

"I understand you've trespassed, stuck your nose where it doesn't belong, endangered my mistress' household, and dug a ditch with your face that will have to be filled and covered."

"Cold..." Aya muttered dejectedly, looking back to the red-white priestess. "H, how about this? If you let me have my camera back, for a whole week I won't bother you or your shrine?"

Reimu dismissed her words with a derisive huff, undoing a latch on the back of the camera and pulling out a small plastic case, holding it up to the sunlight. "I wonder what this does?" she mumbled.

"Don't hold the film up like that!" Aya pulled against Ran's arm with a great fervor as she reached for the film, only for Reimu to back off once more. "You'll black out all my shots!"

"Oh? So all your recent peeping is just right out the window like that then?" Reimu smirked, looking at the case that revealed a small feed of some thin material, probably what Aya referred to as the film. She reached for it, pinching it with her fingernails, and began to tug.

"_I have information about last night!_"

Reimu stopped cold, staring at the film in her hand as she ran her thumb over its strange texture. Now she was finally getting somewhere.

"Just leave my scoops alone and I'll tell you everything I know about what Yukari was doing last night, alright?"

The Hakurei priestess' head turned over her shoulder, eying Yukari and noting a look of genuine surprise. She'd been caught off guard by this development, and that left the priestess with an advantage she intended to uitilize. Turning her head back to Aya, she deposited the film back in the camera. "If you're feeding me some kind of nonsense..."

"On the honor of my newspaper, I swear! The shots I got last night should almost be done developing, I just need to go to Youkai Mountain and get them from my black room!"

Reimu gave a cautious nod, taking the camera's strap and sliding it over her head, allowing the device to dangle off her neck. "Well then, you'd better'd show that speed you're famous for. I'm waiting."

She didn't have to wait long. Aya took off, leaving a chunk of her blouse's collar in Ran's hand and spraying dust and debris hundreds of feet around them. Reimu's arms folded over her chest, one hand idly fondling the camera's peculiar shape.

"So..." Marisa muttered, "ya think ya could let me down now?"

Ran sniffed, dropping the witch to the ground and walking past Reimu, returning to her mistress' side. There was some mumbling between the two, confirming further to the ashen-haired priestess that what they were hiding merited investigation. Still, she didn't have the hearing to pick up on whatever they were saying. Hopefully Aya's photos would clear things up.

"So when d'ya think that tengu'll be back?" Marisa said as she walked back up, replacing her hat on her head with one hand as her broom flew into the other.

"Well, we are on the edge of Gensokyo's border right now, so..."

A thunderous crash cut off her thoughts, leaving she and her partner standing with fresh dirt sprayed into their faces. Aya stood in the ditch, thrusting an envelope out to the bearer of her camera.

"Here's some of the shots, okay? Now can I please have my camera back?"

"In a minute." She grabbed the envelope, opening it and pulling out several photos. It was indeed Yukari's estate, with the blonde youkai at work on a gap. She flipped through the photos, each one taken with obvious time passed between, and each one focusing more upon the gap that was the subject of Yukari's attention. "Just how did you manage to do this without her noticing?"

"She was totally fixed on that. I just zoomed by for a shot every time it looked like something interesting was happening."

"Ran," Yukari tiredly droned, "remind me to up security around the home for birds."

Reimu chuckled a little. It wasn't like Yukari at all to be caught off guard. She had to have been utterly devoted to what she was doing for that to happen, she had to have been working on something big. Reimu flipped to the last few photos, taking note of not only observance on Yukari's part, but assault. She had unleashed one of her spell cards into the gap, a familiar array of red and blue lasers Reimu had close encounters with on her own at one time. The boundary manipulating youkai had left the gap open after that and walked off, a ponderous expression on her face. The next photos showed Ran's emergence from the gap, with the shikigami's shikigami, Chen, cradled in her arms. Her focus shifted to the gap, squinting at the image of a winged figure with rainbow-hued hair charging at it.

"Is that all?" Reimu handed the images off to Marisa, letting her flip through them.

"The fox came home, what was I supposed to do?" Aya shrugged. "A good reporter keeps things natural, especially the shady looking stuff. I was gonna make a scoop out of it in next week's issue, too..." The tengu shook her head, holding out her hand expectantly. "Now, my camera, please, and the photos too."

The shrine maiden shrugged, pulling the strap over her head and tossing the device to Aya, as Marisa finished a quick flip through the images and shoved them back in the envelope. "Go away."

"I still have a scoop to get, thanks very much." Aya snipped, looking past Reimu, her expression immediately falling to a frown. "And it looks like it ran away."

Reimu's eyes widened, quickly turning about. In place of the manor was an empty lot, barren of any sign there had ever been a home there in the first place. Reimu began to seethe, her fists clenching at her sides as her shoulders trembled and she threw her head back.

"_Yukari!_" Reimu bellowed at the sky, landing and stamping her foot down in the grass.

"Old woman just moved the whole house." Marisa mumbled in wonderment. "Really didn't wanna talk, did she?"

"There goes my scoop..." Aya moaned, clutching the envelope to her chest. "Oh well, mysteries sell pretty well too, even if it won't be the centerpiece on my front page."

Reimu paid little mind to the words of the others, walking forward to the empty plot of land and looking over it in equal measures of disbelief and anger.

"That old hag..." Reimu growled, turning sharply in the grass and making for where she had left her shoes before she'd stepped onto the outer corridors of the manner earlier. If those were gone and she had to dip into her donation box to replace them, danmaku would be the least of Yukari's concerns on their next encounter. She counted it as a small victory, then, as she saw the black mary janes sitting where the steps had been before. Kneeling down, she grabbed them, and paused as she felt her fingers brush over something within.

"Yo Reimu, what's up?" Marisa called as she approached from behind, Aya alongside her. She turned, pulling letter that had been folded up into her shoe out, and opened it.

"Reimu," she began to read aloud, "In one month, you will learn _exactly_what it is I'm doing."

"The gap youkai left you that?" Aya inquired, walking around and looking over her on-and-off ally's shoulder. "She spirits away her house and then lets you off with this?"

"Yukari's never this straightforward," Reimu grumbled. "Even the times we've worked together, she's held onto information I could've used to help the exterminations go along."

"So ya think she's up to somethin' else, huh?"

"I know it." Reimu folded the letter up once again, sliding it up into her sleeve as she took to the air, looking acutely over her shoulder to the witch and tengu. "Keep your eyes peeled over the next month for anything strange. Aya, let me know if anything comes up, I'm going to get Suika on board with this too."

"There'll be a finder's fee." Aya chimed with a smile.

"Call it charity to the shrine."

* * *

><p>"C'mon, Pound, that's right," Pinkie Pie enthused as the winged infant crawled towards her. "Come to Auntie Pinkie Pie!"<p>

Twilight giggled as she watched the baby boy shuffle along the floor nearer and nearer to her frizz-headed friend before his wings came to work, throwing him a foot into the air and into her chest, knocking them both over. Pinkie laughed and held him up over her head. "You're getting to be such a big boy! I bet'cha you'll be flying higher than Rainbow Dash soon!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Rainbow Dash smirked and propped her head in her hand as she sat next to Twilight and Applejack, the latter holding Pumpkin in her lap and holding an apple-shaped teething toy for the baby as she gnawed on it relentlessly.

"Thanks for letting us meet up here while the Cakes are out shopping," Twilight remarked to Pinkie, "I thought we were due to have a meeting."

"Aw, c'mon, you know they're totally fine with you guys!" Pinkie sat up, giving Pound a toy hammer, which he set to work thumping against her shoulder. "Besides, Mr. and Mrs. Cake said we could help ourselves to the sweets!" Pinkie paused at her words, then sprung up and dashed out of the room with Pound in hand.

"O... kay," Applejack murmured, looking back to the others seated around the table. "So wut d'we gotta talk about?"

"Well, it's been nearly a month since this entire fiasco began," Rarity said, sitting with one leg folded over the other. "and we haven't seen or heard a thing of those two creatures since the night Princess Luna was assaulted. How is she, by the way?"

"Recovering, still." Twilight sighed, clasping her hands together on the table. "She's walking, but one of her wings was fractured pretty badly in the crash. They've mended her horn, but since it's still setting, she can't use her magic heavily. It might shatter if she does."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" the blue-winged flyer asked, grabbing a cookie off of a plate in the middle of the table. "I mean, I didn't think your horns were responsible for your magic."

"You're right, Rainbow," Twilight said, pulling out her own wand and eying the violet horn tip. "Everyone, to varying degrees, has magic within them, any earth pony, pegasus and unicorn, and it's not just limited to us. Dragons and gryphon, any sentient species can use it. Unicorns' horns, though, are our tools for drawing it out and controlling it, acting as focal points and guides for however it manifests." Twilight pointed her wand at the cookies, focusing as a familiar magenta hue wrapped around the tool. The same hue appeared around several of the cookies before they lifted off the plate, beginning to spin around in the air as if orbiting a non-existent star. "If our horns are broken, we can still call upon the magic, but it's unstable, and highly dangerous. It can backlash to varying degrees, and... Well, there are lessons in history about several great unicorns who were lost because of using their magic under those circumstances, for whatever reason."

"That's neat!" Pinkie exclaimed from the other end of the table, her sudden appearance causing Twilight's focus slip from the treats and release the spell, dropping them. In a flash, Pinkie's hand shot out, swiping them all out of the air and depositing them onto a paper plate.

"Ya got any explanation for her and what she does?" Rainbow snickered.

"I gave up on trying to figure her out," Twilight said with a heavy breath, smiling as Pinkie began to systematically wolf down the cookies, sitting next to a few cupcakes she'd pulled from the kitchen. "Anyhow, it's still going to be a while before the princess can use enough of her magic to raise the moon again, let alone face off against those fox and cat things."

"I'm just glad she's recovering," Fluttershy said, taking Pumpkin from Applejack and giggling a bit as the baby leaned straight over against her. "It was terrifying seeing her like that, I can only imagine Princess Celestia's relief."

Twilight nodded, closing her eyes at the thought of the princess. When she had left the room that night to lay her head down and try to sleep, she knew the sun princess was more put off than she let on. There were subtleties to her demeanor that, as her personal understudy, she had become accustomed to since she was a filly. Posture, words, typical things for anyone, but there was a radiance about the princess as well. She had spent enough time learning magic from the academy and Celestia herself that she'd learned minor fluctuations in her very aura; the dimness that appeared when she would tell a sad story, the rapid fluctuations and flares when she was so obviously biting her tongue on a matter that had grated on her nerves. She never spoke of it of course, the princess' image was integral to her rule in Equestria, but she took notice.

"I've been devoting myself to my research since the attack," she said, "and I simply can't place what kind of magic is responsible for this. I consulted Zecora, but she's as in the dark as I am. Neither the transformations nor the attacks have come up in any of the knowledge or materials between us, and..." She took a moment, leaning her head forward into one hand. "It's frustrating, and I hope it's just my inexperience, but it doesn't look like we'll be ponies again anytime soon."

"So what's the big deal?" the party girl said, licking all of the icing off of a cupcake in a single pass before tossing the rest of the confection into her mouth. "I mnn, w' jst lhk uh-"

"Pinkie, please, manners at the table." Rarity interrupted, visibly disgusted by the display.

The bearer of laughter swallowed hard, taking a breath before continuing. "I mean, we just look a lot different, right? We can still do our usual stuff, and thumbs are kinda neat! And the sweets, oohhh, they taste _so_ much sweeter without the taste of the wrapping paper in your mouth, you know? I've heard some of the others around Ponyville saying they don't even want to go back!"

"Yer kiddin'?" Applejack leaned over the table, narrowing her eyes. "Ya see what we look like, Pinkie? 'T'ain't natural; we were born ponies, it's just how it is."

"Well, if that's all, then we change back and leave any of the babies born now as people, right?" Pinkie asked this with a simplistic honesty that brought the farm girl pause.

"I for one don't mind this terribly," Rarity said, taking a cookie from the plate with a napkin. "I mean, it was tricky on the first day, getting used to tailoring for these bodies, and all my dress forms had to be completely replaced, but I think they're fairly elegant. Considering the number of other dreadful things we could have become, I mean..."

"I dunno, it hasn't really felt the same flying without the wind blowing through my coat." Rainbow Dash leaned back in her chair, kicking it up on its hind legs. "I've heard folks talking about some pretty weird cravings for meat, too. They're starting to sound like gryphons."

"Meat...?" Fluttershy whispered, bringing a hand over her mouth, clearly nauseated by the idea.

"It might be physiological," Twilight pondered openly, "brought on by these bodies. Hands and feet in place of hooves, no tails or horns, who's to say that the outside is all that changes?"

"Like Ah said, this ain't normal," Applejack insisted. "Wut'll happen if we turn back'n that cravin' sticks? Not a one in Ponyville ever wanted somethin' like that before that wusn't sick in the head."

"Hey, cupcakes make everything better," Pinkie suggested, earning strange looks from the rest of the group. She only shrugged. "C'mon, what tastes better than a cupcake? Who could resist?"

"Anyhow," Rainbow Dash picked up, her arms folded across her chest, "what about Princess Celestia? I mean she runs the whole darned school in Canterlot, she's gotta be able to ask whoever she wants, right? Someone's gotta have an answer, or at least a lead."

"I haven't heard back from her specifically in the last week," the student of the princess in name answered. "The only thing I'd picked up in her last letter was they'd begun to search in more ancient tomes for answers, back when creatures who openly harnessed magic were viewed with more superstition than today by those who couldn't. I could only imagine how much digging they'd have to do..." Twilight trailed off, staring straight ahead. It felt as if her words had been stolen from her.

"Twilight?" Applejack leaned over, setting a hand on the spell caster's shoulder. "Ya alright, sugarcube?"

_"You're fine."_

"I'm fine," Twilight said, mimicking whatever just rang between her ears. She wasn't, though, in spite of the words. In the body she had grown accustomed to, she suddenly felt out of place. Against her will, she rose and left the table, and the building right after.

"Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called from behind her. The voice registered, and she wanted to stop, but she was compelled to continue moving forward.

"I have to go check on some things," her mouth said for her, "I'll catch up with you guys later."

_"We have a letter to send, Twilight Sparkle," the voice said, sounding more familiar with every word. "It's rude to keep a princess waiting, after all."_

* * *

><p>"Spike, I need you to take a letter." Twilight no sooner than she entered the library. Spike needed no more prompting than that, leaning up the broom he had been sweeping the stairs with and making his way to the nearest parchment and paper in the room.<p>

"Another lesson in friendship for the princess, Twilight?" Spike asked, cocking a curious brow as she just walked to one of the bookshelves and began rifling through the texts.

"Not exactly." She cleared her throat and began. "Dear Princess Celestia, I have an urgent development regarding the situation that transpired a month ago, but I feel it is not secure enough to share over our post. I would like to meet you at the edge of the Everfree Forest. I will explain everything on upon your arrival."

Spike nodded, completing the letter promptly and in Twilight's exact words. Rolling it up and sliding a seal over it, marking it as official business, he took a breath and released. Green flame billowed from his mouth and engulfed the parchment, reducing it to cinder and sending it on its way to the princess. That done, he grinned to Twilight.

"I knew you'd find something on this," he said enthusiastically, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. "What're we gonna do to get back to normal? I kinda miss my tail." He stared at her a moment, awaiting a response, watching her continue to flip through the books. "Uh, Twilight? Ya there?"

"Huh?" Twilight's concentration broke, turning her eyes over her shoulder to the boy. "Sorry, Spike, I'm busy looking for something right now."

"What is it?"

"Basic Biology for Equestrians and Starswirl's Guide to Superb Spellwork. I've got some research that has to be done."

Spike tilted his head to one side, befuddled. "Biology?"

"It's... for returning to normal, Spike."

That made sense, and brought a smile to his face. "Oh, sure thing! I'll go get them for you, just sit tight." Spike turned and jogged to the staircase, heading to the second floor. It sounded like everything was falling into place, and they'd have themselves back to the way they were in no time. Though, he couldn't help but admit to himself that he'd miss being taller just a little bit. The library's step ladder had collected mostly dust since he'd been changed, he wasn't anxious to start hauling it around again. As quickly as he reached the next floor and began his search, he found the first book, pulling it from its shelf and beginning to hunt the second.

It all seemed to be happening incredibly fast, however. Spike paused, his finger resting on one of the shelves as he stared at the line of books. Just earlier in the morning Twilight had bemoaned how fruitless her efforts had been. She'd only left to go to Sugarcube Corner and meet with the others, she couldn't have been gone that long, right? Where did she find the time to discover this? He didn't practice magic himself, at least not beyond what dragons were standard of knowing, but he'd seen Twilight at work. Random epiphanies just didn't happen that often, talented though even she was. Without even an inkling of an idea on how to reverse all of it, just how had she come up with this? Then there was her lack of focus...  
>Well, Twilight could zone out a bit when she was focused, he'd let that one slide.<p>

_Guess I'll just ask,_ he thought, continuing his search. _I mean, come on, Spike, what would she get all this ready for if she didn't have something big going on?_ Spike found the last book and pulled it, left now only with his curiosity on how Twilight had done it. Before he start back to the older girl, a hooting sound echoed through the tree. Spike paused, looking back to the stairs ponderously.

"Owlowiscious?" He listened again, the hooting now shrill, and the sounds of objects thumping and crashing joining it.

"I told you to stay back, you miserable pest!" Twilight called from downstairs, a yelp of pain following after.

Now the attitude was definitely cause for concern.

"Twilight?" Spike called, dropping the books and taking off downstairs. He arrived to a scene that had left him shocked. Owlowiscious, Twilight's pet owl and at times assistant in the evenings, was swooping at her, talons at the ready and cries shrill and ear piercing. The victim in name's arms were covered in scratches and gashes. "Owlowiscious, are you crazy? Stop it!" Spike began to run, preparing to make a grab at the bird, or, do something, anything, but he had to stop this insane assault before Twilight _really_got hurt. He'd figure out what was going on after it had all-

_"Enough!"_Twilight bellowed, a strange subtone to her voice as she swept both hands out wide. From nowhere, balls of fire burst to life around her in the air, haunting blue and lacking the familiar aura of Twilight's magic. Owlowiscious curved up sharply, singing his tail feathers before circling around and landing on Spike's shoulder, eyes set on Twilight.

"T... Twilight?" Spike stammered, watching the flames die off. He hurried forward as her arms fell to their sides, the avian creature departing his company as he came close. As he drew in and got a good look at her face, Spike understood why. The kind eyes Twilight always had were now narrow and slit, a golden hue, bringing to mind the eyes of a fox.

"Wait a minute," Spike mumbled, "you're not..." Narrowing his own eyes into slits, Spike clenched his fists. "What's going on here? Are... are you Twilight or not?"

A smirk pulled over her lips as she stepped back. "It's been a long time since I possessed anyone. I must've grown quite rusty if a bird and a boy could pick me out." Twilight raised a hand, a new, larger fireball forming above it. "Let's see if I'm as rusty without spell cards."

Spike watched as the fireball grew, flickering and beginning to surge erratically. He didn't know what she was talking about, but he wouldn't stick around to find out. Turning on a heel, he dashed to the staircase, Owlowiscious swooping up it before him as he ran up. An explosive force rocked the tree, ghostly wisps of flame drifting up into the stairwell after them and licking at the bottommost stairs. A debate was being waged in his mind as the fires ebbed; go downstairs and face the thing that was imitating, possessed, done whatever to the girl who had brought him into the world from his egg, or cower in the stairwell and hope she didn't come after him.

"Darn it!" he snapped at himself, knowing his answer with frustrating ease. He bound down the steps two at a time and took a breath, prepared to fight.

The wind was knocked out of him from sheer shock as he saw Twilight's body taking off out the front door.

"H, hey, wait up!" Spike started to chase after, taking only a cursory glance over the room to ensure there was nothing that would leave the library a smoldering pile of ash due to his departure; strangely enough, there wasn't. Magical flame was his only guess as to what caused the blast. "Owlowiscious, go get the others! I'm gonna follow Twilight!" A hoot was all he needed for confirmation, dashing after her out the door. Already she had considerable ground on him, but he aimed to change that. Twilight was no natural born athlete, it'd only be a matter of time before he caught up to her. He didn't want to hurt her, restraint was on the top of his list. Still, the boy was ready to do what he had to ensure whatever had Twilight's body didn't run amok and ruin her reputation, or worse yet, get her hurt.

All of the sudden, Twilight reached for the pouch at her hip, drawing her wand from it.

_Oh no._

He watched in dread as she thrust the wand into the air, magic radiating from it, a blended swirl of Twilight's magenta aura and licks of a yellow one wrapped around it, before engulfing her and flashing out. In that same instant, she was gone. Spike ground to a halt, looking at a scorch mark left on the earth. The last time either of them had been burned in a teleport, Twilight had been fleeing an overzealous crowd hunting tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. She'd later rationalized it from being a spontaneous decision with lack of control. The thing in her didn't have a complete hold over her, then, or she was at least fighting back where she could.

Still, this left Spike in a conundrum. Twilight was gone to Celestia only knew where, and that spell could easily take her across town in a flash. He had to think, had to come up with just where she'd have gone.

"Wait..." he murmured, looking towards the outskirts of town. "Celestia... She had me send that letter, she must still be planning on meeting her! I've gotta warn her!" Spike spun and took off again, back towards the library. He'd send her a letter, that would be faster than trying to get to the Everfree Forest on foot, and hopefully beat Twilight. No doubt Celestia could handle her student's body, no matter what was controlling it.

His aspirations stopped short as a black cat landed before him, back arched and tails puffed out.

_Wait, _tails_? Plural?_

He didn't have time to think about it as it leapt at him, swiping and tearing a rip in his sweater with its claws. Frustrated, but with the creature out of his path, he made a break for it. He couldn't afford the time to play with a stupid cat, no matter how bizarre it was. The yowling behind him, however, told him as much that the feline wouldn't quit that easily. He spun and took a breath, prepared to unleash a torrent of flame. There were no intentions to harm the creature, but he imagined the scare would drive it off.

The fire caught in his throat as he saw a girl lunge at him instead, eyes widening as he choked it down and instead coughed out a plume of smoke before being slammed to the ground beneath the girl.

"Sorry, but you can't go tell the princess," she said matter-of-factly. "Lady Ran wouldn't be happy with that."

"L, lady... huh?" He was dumbstruck, staring up at her. He had to admit, in spite of his still strong-standing feelings for Rarity, she was fairly cute, looked about his age too. Short brown hair, a green frilled hat, red dress, and those cat ears...

... Wait a minute.

He leaned around, spotting two tails waving behind her. His eyes were wide as saucers, staring back up at her with more amazement than anything else. "You're that dumb cat?"  
>"That's rude!" she snapped.<p>

"You _attacked_me!"

"I'm just keeping you busy," she grumbled, clearly not pleased with the last remark. "I don't wanna hurt you, but Lady Ran's got business with Princess Celestia, and you can't interrupt it."

"Is that the name of whatever's in Twilight?" he growled, finding renewed strength as he tried to push up. She hopped up a bit and pressed her weight back down on her hands, slamming him down by his shoulders. She actually balanced on her arms for a second before touching her feet down on either side of him. Definitely a cat girl.

"Lady Ran is Lady Ran, just like Chen is Chen."

"So you're Chen then?"

"Mm-hmm." She flashed him a smile. "I've never seen a dragon before, they don't have those in Gensokyo. Lady Yukari said that the last time she saw one was when it was created. Guess you're not much of one now though."

"I thought your mistress was Ran?" Spike inquired. This girl was an open book, not stupid, but certainly simple. Casual, if not irritated, conversation would probably earn him a good bit of information.

"Lady Ran is Lady Yukari's shikigami, and I'm Lady Ran's shikigami, so I'm also Lady Yukari's shikigami."

If he knew just what the heck any of what she was saying meant, at least. He growled, bracing himself the ground and trying to push up, feeling Chen strain against him. "Lemme go!"

"I told you that you've gotta stay put!" she ordered.

"Not interested!" Spike took a deep breath for the third time that day, and this time successfully unleashed his fire breath. The effect was what he'd desired, Chen sprang back in a flip. Sitting upright and spraying it after her for a second, he turned to dash for the library again. He was a few minutes out, but the tree top was in sight. If he could just get there, he'd be home free.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" Chen called from behind, quickly flying up alongside him. Wait, _flying?_ Cat she may have been, but he didn't see any wings on her! He only passively recalled Twilight mentioning her own befuddlement with it, which did nothing to help him. He stamped down and leapt to the side as she slashed at him, her red nails cutting deeper into his hoodie than her cat claws had. He looked around, hoping for some help, any kind of help, but those around stood at more than arm's reach. He couldn't entirely blame them, but it still kind of hurt.

"Leave me alone, you crazy cat!" he hollered, turning and breathing out again. He was not experienced at fighting, this was his one trick; judging by how Chen weaved around the and began to do flips in the air, he was willing to guess she was more familiar with the art. He watched her straighten out and charge, faster than he could reacted, claws extended. This was going to hurt.

She stopped dead in the air, hanging there, dumbfounded.

"Bad kitty!"

Spike stopped cold and spun about, as shocked by the sight as Chen seemed to be where she dangled off the ground. The culprit of the act that saved the boy a world of pain was none other than Pinkie Pie, holding the girl up by the back of her dress' collar.  
>"You don't just attack people like that," Pinkie said, talking to Chen more like she was talking to an ordinary house cat than a person. "On top of being rude, it's just plain dangerous! You could hurt someone!"<p>

"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash touched down aside her, amazement catching her immediately, and quickly turning to fury. "It's that lousy cat!"

"Uh, yeah, I know," Pinkie said, looking at Rainbow Dash as if she had two heads, "why do you think I'm scolding her?"

"She oughtta get more than just a talking to, lemme at her!"

"Rainbow, _stop_!" Applejack hollered, bringing the blue-winged girl to a halt before she could begin her advance. "We ain't beatin' up a kid. Ya oughtta be ashamed fer even considerin' it!"

"Yeah?" she snapped and spun on a heel, facing Applejack as she came close. "She sure didn't think twice that night she and that dumb fox took it to Princess Luna!"

"We ain't stoopin' ta their level!" Applejack was adamant, getting right up in her friend's face. "And if ya wanna try, ya can try me first, got it?"

"They don't get along very well," Chen said flatly.

"Ah, they're just worked up," Pinkie Pie responded casually, setting Chen down and straightening her clothes out.

"Pinkie!" Rarity jogged up, out of breath and dabbing at her forehead with a handkerchief. "Are you mad?"

"No, silly," Pinkie said with a grin, "that's Rainbow Dash and Applejack. When do I ever get mad?"

Spike didn't want to think about the stories he'd heard about her Pinkie Pie promises. The interrogation she put him through came to mind to around the day of her last birthday also came to mind...

"Well, she's right about that", Rarity chided. "You two need to focus on the matter at hand," The two stood each other down for a few more seconds, before Rainbow Dash turned away, her arms folded across her chest. "That's better. Now, we should... um, where's Fluttershy?"

"Oh, she's around the corner." Pinkie said, pointing down the street a bit. All eyes turned to the most timid of their group, currently exemplifying the trait as she stared on and trembled.

"Fluttershy, come on!" Rainbow Dash hollered.

"B, but that cat..." She swallowed hard, ducking a bit more behind the building, before shrieking and jumping out into the street. Owlowiscious was perched on her shoulder, and she was now white as a sheet.

"Oh, c'mon, Fluttershy, you don't have to be such a scaredy cat!" Pinkie Pie giggled a bit. "I mean, this one isn't. She's kinda more of a fighty cat... bravey cat? Oh, I'm gonna have to think about this one."

"We don't have time for this!" Spike interrupted, drawing all their attention. "Twilight's been possessed by that thing's master, and she's on her way to meet Princess Celestia! We have to get to the Everfree Forest before something happens!"

"D'what now?" Applejack looked incredulously to Spike. "You pullin' mah leg?

"I know it sounds crazy, but do I _look_ like I'm joking?" Spike watched Applejack's attention shift to Chen, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"Oh, yeah, now you're fine with the idea." Rainbow Dash snarked.

"Ah am _not_, but Ah sure as shoot ain't happy 'bout this development. RD, how fast can ya-"

"Don't finish that sentence," the quickster said, taking off without another word.

"Now I'm gonna get in trouble..." Chen sulked, poking her index fingers together. "Lady Ran won't be happy for the interruption."

"I'm surprised you don't try to take her out like you did me," Spike muttered, his hands slipping into his hoodie's pocket.

"She's way too fast to try." Chen stepped off, taking to the air and turning about. "I'm gonna go, they'll want me to explain."

"They?" Spike cocked his head to one side curiously. "More than just that Ran?"

Chen nodded and took off. Wasting no time, Spike and the others began to run after her. She didn't say anymore, but Spike didn't want to hear it. At this point, his dearest hope in the world was that Twilight was safe.

* * *

><p>"Why are you doing this?" Twilight asked Ran, fully aware now of who she was and where she came from. She had been granted use of her voice, but could raise it no higher than a whisper. It seemed to help keep the conversation sorted out, and Twilight wouldn't complain. Guarding her thoughts from this invader was hard enough without having to converse through them.<p>

"_You'll have to specify, unicorn._" Ran's voice rang between her ears, running her fingers gingerly over the fresh wounds left by Owlowiscious' talons .

"All of it; transforming our world, attacking Princess Luna and her guards, and now you're calling in Princess Celestia. Why?"

"_Altering your world is beyond my abilities, Twilight Sparkle,_" the fox within responded frankly. "_Beyond that, I am obeying my orders. I don't know why you're being put through this, and my mistress does not see fit to let me know. It's not my place to ask questions as her servant, I merely obey._"

"Do you intend to attack her? You should know she's immeasurably more powerful than I am."

"_Her strength is great, but she wouldn't dare touch her protégé. You two have a very strong bond, after all._"

Twilight could feel indignant anger welling up inside of her. This was cruel and unfair; Princess Celestia would be deceived, Twilight helpless only to sit back and watch.

"You're a wicked thing."

"_If my mistress desires it, then it is only my duty to carry it out. I have nothing against your world._"

"Is this how that child who follows you is expected to behave?" Twilight had poison on her lips for the fox, but was doing all she could keep on track of the subject. "Just a little girl, and you're throwing her into life or death scenarios so willingly?"

"_Chen is more than capable,_" Ran responded, though with more reservation in her voice than before. "_She knew what to expect from the moment she became my shikigami. Our lives are sworn to our masters, no matter what the task._"

_How terrible,_Twilight thought, opening her mouth to say as much, but feeling her lips seize up.

"_Sit back, she comes._"

Indeed, she did. Princess Celestia approached swiftly, clearly restraining herself as a dozen of her guards struggled to keep pace. Twilight's head lowered, no doubt the fox's attempt to hide her altered eyes. She wanted the princess close for whatever it was she had been planning. She only could see out the tops of her eyes as her mentor's plate-clad feet touched down on the hard earth.

"Princess Celestia," she said with a faux warmness to her voice, "I'm happy to see you."

"It's good to see you're well, Twilight," Celestia responded, the warmth genuine. It made Twilight's heart wrench in her chest. Did she even suspect anything at all? This creature was sly, it had possessed her amidst her best friends, without her own notice until it was too late. "You mentioned in your letter a solution to our problem, correct?"

"I did, Princess," her body responded, head turning to face into the Everfree Forest. "It might be best if we walk and talk about it, though."

"You may be right. I would hate for anyone to interfere."

Twilight would have bit her lip if she could. Her eyes instead closed and she felt a fake smile work its way over her lips. She turned and began to walk before the eyes opened again, Ran ensuring she kept pace in front of Celestia.

"Guards," the princess said behind her, "no one is to enter the forest above or below. Ensure what transgresses here is not disturbed."

"_This makes things much simpler_," Ran said only to Twilight. "_Remind me to thank your princess as soon as my business is complete._"

Twilight would have cursed if she could. She was at her wits end with being a pawn in this game, and feared deeply for what would happen if something wasn't done soon. She certainly didn't have the power to take Princess Celestia on directly, but this fox held its own against Luna. A successful strike without warning could mean grave things for Equestria, for the princess, if she couldn't manage _something_.

In spite of her frustrations, they continued to walk for several minutes, going deeper and deeper into the untamed woods. The only sounds to accompany them were their footfalls on the earth, and the unhindered wildlife all around. Every second was agonizingly long as Twilight pondered and grasped for any option, and at every angle she came up short. Shy of overpowering and driving this thing out, there seemed to be simply nothing she could do.

"I believe this is far enough," Princess Celestia said, Twilight's body coming to a halt after the words, though she continued to stare away. "It's time to get down to business."

"Yes, I think you're right, Princess," Ran said through her, beginning to turn around. She felt her body jump as if startled, eyes widening as she stared straight into Celestia's torso. She looked up as a hand came and grasped her by the jaw, carefully, but with a strong grip. The princess' eyes bore into her own with their gaze. "P, Princess..."

"Twilight, forgive me for this," Celestia said, resolution and regret blended in her voice. She felt something push against her stomach, her eyes grew wide. A brilliant glow, like the very sun she controlled, filled the dark woods and poured light through the trees all around them. "This is probably going to hurt."

Twilight's world erupted into searing pain.

* * *

><p>"Ah said we gotta get through!" Applejack demanded, staring down one of Celestia's guards.<p>

"Our orders were clear," the guard stated, staring the cowgirl back down with equal intensity. "No one is to enter the Everfree Forest by the decree of Princess Celestia, until further notice. You can take your business elsewhere, ma'am."

"D'you even know who we are?" Rainbow Dash snapped, already flustered from having nearly been knocked out of the sky during her attempt to enter. The forest had just been closed to entry when she was coming up, by what Applejack had been told, and one of the guards came within a hairs' breadth of clipping her wings with one of their spears. "Our friend Twilight's in there, and she's in trouble! You have to let us through!"

"My orders are absolute. You. Will. Wait."

"Now see here ya tin-headed idjit!" Applejack got straight in his face, bringing the other guards nearby up at arms. "Princess Celestia's about ta be in a heap of trouble the same's our friend! If yer all too dang stubborn ta understand that, then Ah'm done waitin' fer permission!"

"P, please, don't fight!" Fluttershy came up just behind Applejack, clasping her hands together. "We're just here to help; there's a nasty fox making our friend do what it wants. We only want to make sure she and the princess stay safe."

"A shame that lousy cat made off like she did," Rarity muttered sourly, folding her arms across her chest. "Would have probably made for a good bargaining chip."

Applejack was more than a little flustered by that, too. The cat not only attacked Spike, but simply flew off. If Chen, as Spike said she was called, had taken to her fully feline form, she wasn't sure the guards would give chase, two tails or no. The blonde took a breath, closing her eyes a moment, composing herself, before she tried again.

"Please, jes' please let us through. Twilight and Princess Celestia're gonna be in real trouble if we don't get ta them!"

The guard stared at her a moment, searching her gaze with his own. It seemed that she had finally gained some ground as he sighed, turning his gaze to one of his sky-borne allies that had been watching the scene play out. "You, go into the Everfree Forest and confirm Princess Celestia's safety. Be discrete, however, and report back as-"

"Uh, sir?" the other guard cut him off, pointing past him into the woods.

The former of the guards cocked an eyebrow and turned his head, alarm apparent as a radiant glow poured forth from deep within the woods.

"Oh no," Rarity murmured, "we're too late!"

"The hay we are!" Rainbow Dash took initiative, blasting past the guards while they were in disarray from the spectacle. Applejack clenched her fists and shot a look over her shoulder to the others.

"We ain't got time ta wait anymore, let's go!"

* * *

><p>"Twilight! Twilight, get up!"<p>

Twilight Sparkle's eyes eased open, her world spinning in a mixture of weakness and pain, the latter quickly and mercifully residing. It took a moment for her eyes to grow into focus, dark figures all she could make out. She was held against someone as she sat up on the ground, the person familiar to her, strong. Another set of hands were on her shoulders, slightly trembling against her frame. Squeezing her eyes shut a moment, she grasped at the clothes of the guardian figure, allowing her eyes to settle down before opening them again.

"P... Princess...?" Her vision was still a bit blurry, but as she gazed up, she could see relief in her face.

"I'm sorry for putting you through that, my dear," she said soothingly, hugging her a little closer. "I had to act swiftly to ensure that creature didn't do anything else that may have jeopardized your well being. Your body is once more your own."

"How did you...?"

"I'm quite familiar with my most faithful student," she said with warmth. "Her magical energies have a stark contrast to your own, concealed or not. Of course, I know you as well as I do your magic, Twilight."

She understood, able to smile at that, before looking over her shoulder to Rainbow Dash. There was a look of wide-eyed relief plastered to her face.

"Rainbow...?" The lavender headed girl squinted, focusing on the speedster's eyes as something glinted against the light bleeding through the trees. "Are you...?"

The winged one blinked, shaking her head quickly before standing up.

"Just... Darn it, you scared me, Twilight."

Twilight's smile grew wider.

"Thank you." It was enough, she saw Rainbow Dash nod in acknowledgement. Shifting her weight to her knees, she began to rise, the princess guiding her up to her feet. Oh, it hurt, and without the fox within, she could feel the full extent of pain in her arms' wounds. Zecora's home was nearby, perhaps she'd see if she had a good salve to speed the mending process and prevent scarring.

"Rainbow Dash, please take Twilight."

"Sure, Princess."

Twilight looked back up to Princess Celestia, feeling her arm pull away from her. In an instant, her legs began to give, only for another set of arms to wrap around her firmly, holding her close.

"I got'cha," Rainbow reassured beside her. Twilight nodded, pulling her legs beneath her and bringing as much of her own weight on them she could manage herself. She made passing notice of the few inches Rainbow had on her.

_Focus, Twilight,_she told herself, beginning to survey the area. Princess Celestia had indeed used a great amount of power. The soil had dried and cracked severely at one point, she assumed where they'd been standing before. For several dozen yards around, leaves and plants had withered and crumbled. Wildlife that had made up for the ambient noise within the Everfree Forest was eerily absent, no doubt having fled the awesome display of her might. That Twilight hadn't been totally blinded from the power of her magic made her count a small blessing. Only the three of them remained standing, and a fourth on the ground. Twilight knew it immediately, a golden fox, prone on its side, with nine tails splayed out across the ground behind it. She was huge for her species, perhaps more the size of a wolf than an actual fox by this point.

"What happens now...?" Twilight murmured, watching Princess Celestia approach Ran. She'd been dealt a blow, not physical, but something that effected her aura, and was reeling from it. At this point, the fox was at her mercy.

"You're going to give me answers, beast," she said, turning her staff and pointing her horn down at Ran's throat.

"My..." Ran projected without moving her lips, taking she, and Rainbow Dash by the look on her face, by surprise. "Not quite so regal now, are we?"

"I fancy myself a tyrant today, just for you," Celestia responded coldly, pressing the tip of her staff firmly against the fox's gullet. "You will answer for your crimes against Equestria, and, whether it is willing or forcefully extracted, you will restore my world, my people, to how they were before."

"Tyrant indeed," Ran mumbled with vague humor in her voice.

"Lady Ran!"

Twilight's head turned, watching a red and green figure launch from the forest line at Princess Celestia, followed by luminescent spheres of red and blue. It was the cat, Chen, on the assault for her mistress without so much as a thought for her own safety.  
>The princess, however, was quick on her response, swiping her staff from Ran's throat, coating it with her own magic. In a stroke, she cut through the red sphere just behind the cat child and brought her gauntlet up, a screech audible as claws met with the gold-plated armor. She moved that arm and, with a quick burst of her power, backhanded the second shot into the sky, tearing through the forest canopy, before swiping it back and gripping a handful of Chen's dress, holding her out at arm's length off the ground.<p>

"Chen!" Ran exclaimed, a bark accompanying the cry as she managed to crawl to all fours.

"Now we're getting a response," Celestia murmured. "Can I count on your cooperation?"

Ran was visibly seething, her fangs bared as she looked up to the solar princess, all nine tails fanned out. Twilight Sparkle stared on in a mix of awe and disbelief at the scene, unsure of what to feel as she saw her mentor hold one of their foes, a child, at her mercy, leaving her mistress with an unspoken choice. By now she could hear the footfalls and wing beats of others coming up the path. She looked to see Celestia's guard straggling behind her friends, spears at the ready.

"What will you do, fox?" the princess asked, tightening her grip on Chen's dress, eliciting a frightened gasp as she clawed at her gauntlet.

"I think that's enough of that."

Everything stopped right there, all the gravity around the situation dispersed by the voice. It came from nowhere in particular, resonating all around them.

"Th' heck wus that?" Applejack muttered through dogged breaths.

"Ya got me," Rainbow responded, scanning the area cautiously for the source of the sound.

"W... what if it's a ghost?" Fluttershy cowed behind Rarity, gulping hard at her own suggestion.

"Dear, the Everfree Forest is strange, but not _that_strange." Rarity paused, looking over to Twilight. "... Is it?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, only to fall short as she heard Pinkie laughing behind her. She turned to face the friendliest of their fold, and was greeted with the most absurd thing she had seen since the entire fiasco began.

Pinkie Pie was leaping in and out of a hole floating in mid air, pinched off at the end by two ribbons and filled with eyes, peering queerly at her with each movement.

"P, Pinkie Pie, what're you doing?" Twilight walked towards her, catching herself midstumble several times before Rainbow Dash landed and supported her once more.

"You guys, this is _awesome_!" she proclaimed, grabbing onto the edge of the gap and hauling herself to rest her elbows on it. "There's a whole 'nother place in here! I mean, it's kinda dark, and there's a lot of eyes. Oh, and a stop sign, and a train! This is _so cool_, you've just gotta look!" Pinkie paused, pointing at the lot of Celestia's guards that had come behind their group. "There's another one!"

Twilight's head turned sharply, her eyes widening as a huge distortion opened in the middle of space, wrapping around the guards in both air and on the earth. As quickly as it came, it went, and with it, the guards, gone without a trace.  
>"What the..." Twilight gaped, trailing off there, unable to comprehend just what happened.<p>

"They're perfectly safe, I assure you," the voice proclaimed once more, this time from a source. All heads turned to the edge of the cut path, where a long-haired blonde woman sat on a third one of the distortions, smiling warmly as she twirled a white parasol against her shoulder. "I merely returned those guardians to the castle, to butt out of matters that don't concern them. Likewise, I would appreciate it, Princess Celestia, if you released my shikigami."

"Lady Yukari..." Ran trailed off, lowering her head as if shamed.

"It's fine, Ran," Yukari said in a soothing tone, "I had reasonable expectations something like this might happen. She's even older than you, after all."

Twilight swallowed hard, staring between the mistress of the two beasts and the princess of Equestria. It had taken her a moment to realize it, but she'd tightened her grip on Rainbow Dash, now with fistfuls of her clothes as she watched her mentor stare down this foreign woman. Her tension did not escape the flyer's notice.

"Twilight," she said, backing towards their group with her in tow, "you're freaking out."

The magic student closed her eyes, trying to search for words as she followed Rainbow's steps gingerly. Upon reaching their friends, she was eased to sit on the ground, Applejack and Spike coming up alongside her; Rarity came more slowly, with Fluttershy clutching one of the fashionista's hands with both hers.

"Twilight," Spike said, looking her in the face, searching her eyes in particular, "are you...?"

Twilight broke from her nerves long enough to reach out and ruffle Spike's hair, wearing an apologetic smile. She hoped to give a more proper apology later. The gesture, for the moment, put him enough at ease to satisfy them both. That reassurance given, she looked back to the princess and the strange woman, taking a shuddering breath.

"Wut should we do?" Applejack murmured, looking to Twilight in particular.

"Keep an eye on her pets," Twilight said, surprised by the light tremor in her voice, "but no more."

"What if she needs our help though, Twilight?" Rarity looked down to Twilight, her wand ready in hand.

"... Then we're in serious trouble."

* * *

><p>Hearing Twilight's words to her friends, however grim, gave her a sense of pride in her pupil. Her student had such potential, raw power she'd never seen displayed by anyone, back when she was a filly. Honed and practiced now, it was good to know she could warn her friends away from this face off. If worse came to worse, she was very much certain they'd at least escape safely.<p>

"So I would be correct to assume you are these creatures' mistress?" she asked, her tone flat and humorless as she faced Yukari.

"I am," the woman responded. "Where I come from, it's good manners to introduce oneself before asking another's name, but some things just get lost in translation I suppose. My name is Yukari Yakumo. I am a youkai from Gensokyo."

"I've never heard of such a place," Celestia stated.

"No, I would suppose you haven't. It's home is a world similar, yet quite different to yours. There will be time for more on that later, I assure you. You are Princess Celestia, ruler of this land, correct?"

"Correct."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Yukari spoke pleasantly, as if she had no hand in all that had occurred. "Though, I do wish you would leave my fox and my cat be."

"As their master, aren't you accountable for their actions?"

"Oh, I'm well aware of what they've been up to. Quite fine work, if I do say so myself."

The princess' eyes narrowed at woman's praise of her pets. She was not feeling generous to the woman whose creatures were responsible for leaving her little sister bedridden. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more familiar the magic surrounding that thing she sat upon, and that Pinkie Pie played within, felt.

"So I'm guessing you're really not feeling all that up to honoring my request?"

"They will answer for their crimes against my kingdom and my sister," she declared unwaveringly.

"Is that so?" Yukari tapped her chin thoughtfully, gazing at the princess for a moment before allowing her eyes to wander to her two pets; eyes that began to glow hauntingly. "Well, if you won't simply hand them back over..."

Princess Celestia readied herself, staff raised and beginning to glow with magical energy. She didn't know what to expect from this woman, but she would not simply lie down and accept defeat. A life as long as hers did not come without learning how to defend oneself. She eyed the fox first, the nearest possible threat, even with the cat in her clutches.

A hole opened up right beneath the creature and swallowed it, snapping shut faster than Celestia could register what it looked like or exactly what happened.

"Princess Celestia, watch out!" Twilight called out from behind her. Celestia's head turned to the cat, watching as another hole, or rather, another gap, going by Yukari's introduction, opened and lurched forward at the feline. Celestia dropped her and yanked her hand back as it closed where her hand had been, completely swallowing the creature.

She was stunned, never in her life had she seen anything like that. She looked back to Yukari, surprise mounting surprise to find her creatures emerging from one singular gap beside her, the fox stepping out and gradually retaking the towering, humanoid form she recognized her from a month ago.

"There, now, wasn't that easy?" Yukari rose off her seating place, closed her parasol and set it into the ground by a spade on its top. "I didn't come here to fight you today, Princess Celestia."

"I can kinda see how you mean that. I mean, 'cept for the whole thing with Twilight."

All of their heads turned to Pinkie Pie, sitting on the edge of the gap that Ran and Chen had been released from, chewing on some white sphere with a black center.

"This's pretty good, by the way! What is it?"

"It's... a rice ball." Ran muttered, cringing a bit as the pink-haired girl shoved the whole ball into her mouth, stood up, and began to and lick her fingers.

"Dear, maybe you should go stand with Twilight and the others."

"Okie-dokie-lokie, Princess!" Pinkie Pie smiled to the two creatures, reaching down and rubbing Chen firmly between the ears before she, more or less, began to skip to the others, who gazed at her with a variety of looks.

"That one's a wild one," Yukari mused. "Your Element of Laughter, as I understand it?"

"The Element of Laughter has to bear certain... qualities, I suppose." Princess Celestia shook her head, looking back to Yukari. "Regardless of your intentions today, your pets have committed crimes and must be punished. My sister lays in bed recovering from wounds that nearly took her life, and I stand to rule over a kingdom of ponyfolk who have turned to..."

"People," Yukari said, canting her head to one side, "I believe is the word you're looking for." She no doubt took note of the odd look Celestia gave her, and judging by how her eyes scanned all in attendance, she was not the only one. "Certainly, of all the words you've come to know, you must have known the species you've become. Human beings, homo sapiens, people, simply men and women, I know these words haven't eluded you... Perhaps it's some ego regarding your original bodies, then, that won't allow you use of the word? After all, an equestrian race is the superior race in this world, you control the very weather and nature itself." The blonde woman's eyes turned, making a gesture with her hand to the woods around. "Well, for the most part."

"Are you quite done with your theory crafting?" Celestia murmured, unimpressed.

"I suppose I am," Yukari said, pulling her parasol from the soil. "It's time to get down to business, Your Highness. I mentioned myself a youkai before. Specifically, I am a youkai of boundaries, capable of manipulating, for instance, the difference between light and darkness. I am the one responsible for your current physical state; not just yours, but the gryphons, the dragons, the buffalo, any race capable of a higher plateau of thought and expression of self on this world. I am, likewise, the reason you know the means to dress yourselves to protect your new bodies from the elements and provide a level of decency. I am why your doctors and hospitals have not lost thousands of patients over the last month, including your beloved little sister, by altering their minds to know what conditions to treat with what medicines and technology.

"Speaking of, it was my assault that grounded your sister, thoroughly. I sent Ran and Chen out to scout that evening; Ran was to test the limits of one of the best in Equestria, Chen was to report on how you adapted psychologically. Suffice to say, I have not been disappointed."

Even for Princess Celestia, this was a great deal of information to absorb at once. However, the one break of composure she did allow herself was anger, as her staff began to glow and radiate the heat of the very sun she controlled. It was one thing to have the rundown of the situation, but for this creature, this human-like monster, to sit there and boast about her actions as if she was owed something, or ought be feared for them, she would not stand for it.

"Oh, and, before you get any ideas, you might also consider I am the _only_being from my world with the capacity to restore you to normal."

That was enough to keep her from taking politics to a far more involved level than it already had been. She closed her eyes, taking a breath and calming herself. The best thing that could be done for Equestria, for her sister, her student and her friends, was to be rational.

"Do you have proof of this?" she asked coolly, easing her eyes open and staring Yukari down, hard.

"Naturally," Yukari reaffirmed. Her eyes glowed again, and a strange, almost synthetic sound shot through the air. "Pinkie Pie, I'd appreciate it if you'd step through that."

Princess Celestia turned her head to her pupil's friends. She found herself staring at a gap next to the party girl only slightly taller than she was.

"Sure!" Pinkie agreed. Before anyone among them could stop or protest, she leapt through the gap. Princess Celestia had found her breath caught in her chest initially. What if it had been a trick? Could she have been hurt, or disfigured in some cruel way? That concern all but dissolved as a pink pony bounced out the other side, dressed in clothes that now fit too tight in some places and sagged terribly in others.

"That's totally _awesome_!" Pinkie exclaimed, leaping back through the hole in the air, reappearing on the other side as a human again. She leapt through, a pony again. Back, a human again. Back, forth, back, forth. "Pony. Person. Pony. Person. Pony. Person. Pony. Person. Pony. Person."

"Lady Yukari," Ran said with a sigh as Pinkie continued with her tangential transforming.

"I know, Ran." Yukari snapped her fingers the next time Pinkie leapt through and re-emerged as a human, her gap sealing as she bounced back towards it. The disappointed moan from Pinkie Pie left the princess and the youkai back to their business. "That should do for a demonstration."

"You've proven your abilities enough, yes," Celestia concurred, setting her staff by its base onto the ground. "Now what do you want?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"You're hardly trying to conceal it."

"Good eye, Your Highness." Yukari smiled. "I propose a game. If you win, I will have your entire world restored to the way it was. It will be as if we were never here."

"And should we lose?" Celestia asked

"I very special task for you, actually," Yukari responded. "So if you lose, you'll be carrying that out for me."

"What are the details of this task?"

"Oh, nothing particularly special, but I don't see any point in explaining it. After all, you may yet come out of this on top, why waste my breath?"

She was dodgy. Celestia didn't like that a single bit, but she knew there was little she could do about it. "What's the game?"

"Oh, you'll see. I will say that it involve you, and most definitely your Elements of Harmony. You have my word, when the game begins, you will learn very, very quickly how to play."

"Are these details wasted words as well?"

"Hardly, I'm simply working out a few of the finer points." Yukari offered a dismissive shrug. "The option is yours, Princess Celestia. However, I can't say that your refusal will be the end of our business, if you so decide. The choice is still yours though."

She did not like her options at all. Turning her gaze over her shoulders, she gazed upon the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony; her dearest student and her best friends. To accept Yukari's proposal and play her game left them as much in harm's way as she was. However, if she did not, there was no guarantee some unspoken threat in her words would go unfulfilled.

"You'd have me send them into this ill-equipped and under prepared for whatever you might have up your sleeve, just in the hopes that they come out alright?"

"Part of the game, Your Highness," Yukari stated casually. "What do you say?"

"We accept," Twilight's voice announced from behind her before she could think on it any longer. Princess Celestia turned to face the girls, her student particularly as she forced herself to stand tall on still weak legs. "We'll do it for Equestria."

"Very good," Yukari said with a smile. She turned about, opening her parasol and shouldering it again as she began to walk, Ran and Chen both following at pace behind her. "Rest well, then. You'll know just when our event starts."

She watched as they continued to walk on towards the wood line off the path, cautious until she saw a massive gap open, large enough several people to walk side by side through. They entered the distorted, eye-ridden space within, and it snapped shut behind them, leaving no evidence that they had ever been there in the first place. The youkai woman and her pets dismissed, she turned her attention to her student.

"You shouldn't have done that, Twilight." Princess Celestia was trying her best to sound stern, but it had been a long day, the longest of an already very long month. She could only succeed to come off as tired and concerned. "You are aware of what kind of power that woman and her creatures possessed, aren't you?"

"I am, Princess Celestia," Twilight affirmed, "and I'm sorry for inserting myself in like that, but..." Twilight paused, looking over her shoulders to her friends. She seemed to study their expressions before she turned back and locked eyes with the princess, the determination clear as day in them. "But you told us to be ready, and we told you we would be."

"None of us are at all pleased with what happened to Princess Luna," Rarity picked up. "We certainly couldn't just sit idly by as you faced those three by yourself."

"They called us out, and they'll regret it," Rainbow Dash boasted with a smirk to match.

Princess Celestia looked over their group, searching them for any question or any recoil from the statements; she could find none. Even Fluttershy, the timid thing she was, found strength as she clutched onto Rarity's hand, where Spike stood tall and proud, Owlowiscious perched on his shoulder. The princess looked back to her pupil, gazing down at her and once more into her eyes. There was doubt, anyone would be a fool to not have them in their situation, but her determination burned more brightly than that. She approached Twilight, coming in close to her. She watched her student gently dismiss Rainbow Dash's supportive arms, holding herself uprigt now by her own strength. With pride in her chest, Celestia wrapped her arms around her student, embracing her. As the gesture was returned, she spoke softly to the group.

"Thank you all," she said. "I'm exceedingly proud of each one of you, know that." She stepped back after a moment, looking over the small party with renewed enthusiasm. "When the time comes to act for Equestria, we will act together. No matter what challenges we face, we will overcome, and our world will be restored."

* * *

><p>They were fairies, how was she to have known better?<p>

She'd heard her older sister, and even the chief maid, speak multiple times about how weak and worthless the maids of the manor were; fairies inept at but the most basic of chores, and even those they managed to screw up from time to time. The way they talked, she didn't think they'd cared if a few were made to play a simple game of danmaku. She went easy on them, of course, it only blew out one hallway in the massive household. Still, her sister was less than pleased, and locked her away in her room.  
>"Pichuun," she chimed, the sound of the spell cards' impacts still fresh in her ears as she sat on the edge of her bed, kicking her bare feet out over the remains of a doll she had idly picked apart. She looked up at the window of her basement room, pondering her options. Daylight bled through the curtains, she wouldn't make it very far without cover. She could wait for the night, but then her sister would be at her most active. Idly, she stepped forward, straightening her red skirt and blouse out as she began to pace the room, the seven-colored crystals dangling from her wings jingling and clinking against one another.<p>

"Marisa might be over again soon," she murmured to no one in particular, twirling a finger through her short blonde hair, "maybe I'll start a game with her when she visits Patchouli's library."

She stopped abruptly after a few moments, attentive to the silence in the room, disturbed by a faint shuffling. She was bored, terribly bored, but it seemed things may just yet get interesting. Holding a hand out towards her bed, she watched a blue flame appear at the other side of it, hovering by itself in the air.

"Who's there?" she asked, staring on at the blaze for a moment. Already her patience was tried today, this matter of waiting as others played games at her expense would not carry on for long. A red flame erupted from her palm, burning bright orange at its core, churning in the shape of a slit eye, resembling her own red ones.

"Don't bore me, or I'll make you go 'kyuu'," she threatened, focusing on the flame.

"No need for that, little mistress," a voice resonated through the chamber. The blonde child relaxed, but kept the flame burning. "I come with a proposal for the little sister of the Scarlet Devil."

"Are you going to play with me?" she asked, a hint of dark humor in her tone. "I'll just break you if you aren't, you're trespassing."

"So it seems. I'm afraid, though, I'm not here to play with you."

Her eyes narrowed, the flame in her palm burning more violently as she spread her fingers wide, ready to crush it.

"However, I do have something much more entertaining arranged for you, away from the manor grounds."

"... I'm listening." She watched the blue flame begin to spin, rotating faster and faster until it became a ball. Suddenly, it burst, illuminating the room behind it, revealing a gap floating in the air.

"This way, please, and you'll have the rules explained."

She pondered this for a moment, staring into the gap as it quite literally stared back, countless eyes within peering expectantly at her. It took only a moment for her to walk to her bedside and slip into her shoes. She rose a hand to the massive door at the opposite end of the room, willing a black rod into the air, summoning it. Snatching it out of the air, she smiled broadly and pulled a white frilled cap off her bed post.

"Will it be fun? Really?" she asked, stepping into the rift. The voice responded, in such a way she could almost hear it smiling back.

"More than you could imagine."


	3. Divide

**My Little Illusion**

_Divide_

Parsee Mizuhashi flew, in the most literal sense of the word, from her post. It was seldom the bridge princess abandoned the place her very nature as a youkai led her to spend most of her time, the passage that kept misguided souls from Gensokyo's topside from traipsing carelessly into the underground, where other long outcast youkai and evil spirits dwelt en masse. It was no time before she passed into the chilled remnants of the old Hell, where the denizens of the subterranean world made their homes in the ancient city. Soaring over homes and shops alike, her green eyes pierced through the crowds of youkai, the gaze particularly fixed on any of the oni about.

_"What, you didn't hear?"_ Koishi Komeiji asked when she had stopped by the bridge, returning from one of her trips to the surface to sate her curiosity of the world above. _"There's something amazing going on, powerful people, youkai and human alike, are just up and gone, like that! A lot of the humans were talking about seeing a nine-tailed fox speaking with the phoenix girl outside of their village. Do you think anyone from down here'll go?"_

_Yuugi... _Parsee thought as she sighted the one in name, going into a rapid descent towards a decrepit garden below. She banked hard as she approached the ground, turning a sharp corner in the garden and flying through a path of ancient, long dead trees at the towering oni, slamming her feet on the ground and sliding to a stop as she barked out at her. "Where're you going?"

Yuugi Hoshiguma turned, a look of interest on her face at the sight of her arrival on the scene. She was huge, even slightly taller than the usual oni, and had the physical build to prove it as lean muscle stood out on her arms and even through the sheer fabric of her blue and red pinstriped skirt and solid white shirt. On her wrists and ankles were iron manacles, shattered chains dangling off of them; Parsee couldn't say whether they were just on there for looks or were indicators of a past imprisonment. Jutting out of her forehead, between her brow and the bangs of her long blonde hair, a single, prominent red horn marked with a star on its length grew, a horn that made clear what she was if the sheer size of her body did not.

"Parsee," she commented, a smile on her lips, the usual merriment she carried about her strong as ever, "what brings you into the city at this time of day?"

"One of the satori youkai told me about what's been going on," she snapped, with no shortage of impatience in her voice as she stamped forward, coming right upon the towering woman and looking straight at her. She was only barely at level with her chest, and had to crane her neck back a ways to look her in those ruby red eyes. "You're going, aren't you? You were just going to prance off without telling anyone!"

"I suppose something like that," she announced coolly, reaching out and pulling her sakazuki from an old piece of framework in the garden. She lightly swished the sake around in the cup, the size of which made it look more like a dinner plate, before bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. "I suppose that Lady Satori already knows. What do you think, Suika?"

"Beats me," a higher pitched voice sounded from behind the colossal oni. Parsee hadn't even taken notice of the other, leaning around Yuugi and spying a second oni sitting on the ground, holding a gourd by her lips and grinning broadly, cheeks flush with drunkenness. However, the alcoholism aside, Suika Ibuki looked nothing like her friend, a shorter girl with long, ginger hair, and two ridged, rough horns growing out the sides of her head, one tied off with a ribbon. Her clothes were tattered and worn out, violet skirt shredded at the base and the sleeves of her blouse were completely gone. Like Yuugi, her wrists were cuffed, but at the ends of the chains were weights, one a sphere, the other a pyramid. "Reimu's not happy though, the gap youkai's behind this whole stunt."

"You didn't mention that," Yuugi mused pleasantly, turning and lowering her dish before the smaller oni. The gourd was tipped, and sake flowed fresh into her cup before she brought it back to her lips again. "Guess it's nothing serious though, it gets so boring down here sometimes. Life needs spice to make it interesting, and this sounds like it'll do it."

"Gap youkai..." Parsee murmured thoughtfully, her eyes widening in realization. "You're talking about Yukari Yakumo? That's who you're getting involved with?" It wasn't a surprise she knew the name, even though she'd spent all her life in the underground. Without that old youkai's power, Gensokyo wouldn't even exist. To humans, knowledge of her existence passed out after several generations; to creatures such as herself, however, a few hundred years merely got them through adolescence. "She's a crafty old witch, and helped that priestess invade the underground the last time she was here. You two are going to just play whatever game she's got in mind so heedlessly?"

"Well, she's tough, fer sure," Suika slurred a little, rising to her feet and swinging her gourd over her shoulder by a leather string. "But we're on her side here, so, y'know, we're in a better position to do what we want."

_How can she be so carefree about this nonsense?_ Parsee thought sourly, hissing through her teeth. _It makes me so jealous..._ Turning her attention from the childlike oni, she looked back up to Yuugi. "You can't be serious," she said flatly, clenching her fists at her sides. "What do you expect to do with this game, Yuugi? Go to the surface again? You know that our kind aren't welcome there, we haven't been for centuries. I don't stand at the bridge every day just for the hell of it, you of all people should know that. If I'd have known that little twerp would have come down here to feed you this nonsense on her way by, I'd have beat her back before she ever entered the blowhole into the place."

"Parsee," Yuugi said, chuckling a bit, "if I ever thought that you could defeat any of the devas of the mountain in any kind of combat, I'd be stopping by your bridge a lot more often than just social visits."

"'Sides," Suika interrupted, now hopped upon and hanging over the larger oni's shoulder with her drunken grin plastered to her face, "we're not gonna be in Gensokyo. Apparently this's somewhere else, way, way far away. The underground rules don't apply. Hell, danmaku rules don't apply, we can really go crazy again! Especially if characters where ever we're gonna be going are as interesting as word says. They dunno about how we do things in Gensokyo, but I hear a few of them are really strong."

"As strong as a deva of the mountain?" Parsee retorted with a spin on Yuugi's own words.

"Ah, maybe not," Suika responded, her grin growing. "Long as they've got good booze though so I can really get plastered. A bottomless gourd is great, but it all tastes the same. Spice, you know? Some spice has gotta be added!"

"You two already said that."

"Ah, so we did." Suika absentmindedly scratched her chin, before her eyes opened wide. "Ride's here. Ready Yuugi?"

"Definitely," the taller oni said as the smaller leapt from her shoulder and began to walk. A strange, warping noise ripped through the air, and a gap appeared at the end of the garden, one of the kind Parsee had seen the Hakurei shrine maiden disappear into several times during her first venture in the underground. Yukari Yakumo was indeed behind it. Turning her eyes from that and looking back to Yuugi, she was met with surprise, as one of the oni's hands came down, grasping her by the shoulder, while she bent down and touched her brow against the bridge princess' forehead.

"Hey, I'll come back safe, alright? Just go ahead and keep guarding the bridge, I'm sure Lady Satori'll have enough to fret about with all this going on. Relax, and I'll be back soon."

Parsee paused pensively, her breath caught in her throat as she gazed into Yuugi's eyes. Sincerity shone through them, she was absolutely confident that she would return unscathed from this journey.

"Promise it," the bridge princess demanded, in the manner a spoilt child would.

Yuugi only grinned, rubbing her shoulder before turning and beginning towards the portal. "An oni lives by her word, you know that."

Parsee's cheeks were flush red, with frustration, with embarrassment, with... many, many things, as she watched Yuugi step into the gap after Suika. In an instant, that warping sound blew through the air, and the portal snapped close, taking the twin devas off somewhere, to a world unbeknownst to the bridge youkai. They'd have their little adventure, and they would return. Even that old gap woman would have a formidable challenge against the raw physical powers of two of the most powerful oni known to Gensokyo.

With a breath, she turned, straightening out her scarf, her sleeves, her dress, all ruffled and twisted from her flight and the flurry she'd raced over in, and began to walk. There was no rush to return to the bridge. After all, it wasn't as if there were another incident afoot.

* * *

><p>"It makes me glad you sought me out," Zecora said, pulling a glass bottle from her bags, half filled with a translucent, pink fluid, "now I ask that you try not to shout."<p>

Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat as she held her bare, wounded arms held straight out for the once-zebra, watching as she uncorked the bottle. Immediately, a strong odor permeated the fresh evening air outside of the library, threatening to make Twilight gag from its intensity. She sucked in a breath and nodded before Zecora began to pour sparingly over the talon wounds Owlowiscious had left on her arms, cleaned and dried up 'til this.

She was fairly sure that everyone as far as Cloudsdale heard her shriek when the liquid hit. It was less like a healing brew and more like liquid fire. Her fists clenched and she bowed her head as if prostrating before her medic, biting her lip and trying not to cry out anymore, focus on something else. She peeked up, enough to look past her torturous treatment option and instead study her foreign friend and her new form. To begin, her complexion was darker than Twilight's own; Twilight had learned healthy humans didn't have the wide array of coloring in their flesh ponies had in their coats. Her hair, however, was pinstriped black and white, though straight and flat to her shoulders, partly concealing the gold hooped earrings and the multi-layered ring she wore about her throat. Her clothes were simple, designed strictly in function, with woven sandals on her feet, and a single-strapped, sleeveless dress of gray linen, dyed with black markings and runes in several places. Rarity had insisted on giving her something more, but Zecora had refused politely, accepting only enough to have clean changes of clothes.

Perhaps most startling, when she'd first seen her friend from the Everfree Forest after the transformation, was the design on her thigh. Her cutie mark was present, not simply drawn or painted on, but tattooed into the flesh. Zecora was not vain by any means, but it was still her mark, so Twilight could sympathize to an extent. She'd heard word of others doing the same, and others who struck out against modifying their bodies anymore than they already had been. In fact, it seemed that with the great many changes they had undergone, there were just as many new conflicts. Applejack's prior concerns about food were not new at the time; whether for change of taste or their new physiology, flowers, oats and hay weren't enough anymore. Sweet Apple Acres was being worked well into overtime on their inventory of absolutely everything, but it was neither the season for applebucking or the legendary Zap Apples. Sooner or later, the citizens of Equestria would look for a new staple to their diet, and the gut-wrenching option of meat was seeming unfortunately likely. Where they'd procure it... No, no, she didn't even want to consider that.

Then there were issues of faith and loyalty. Princess Luna's defeat had left an unquestionable dent in the image of the two celestial sisters; for their abilities to control the heavens themselves, they were not, in fact, all powerful. The incident at the royal wedding had already damaged Princess Celestia's image a bit, with the Changeling queen, Chrysalis, defeating her in one-on-one combat, now invaders from another world? Creatures that they had no idea what they were, at that; faith was indeed shaken, and there had been more than a couple fights broke out on the subject. Some of the more extreme things she'd heard went as far as saying these were higher deities, come to punish Equestria and its people for committing some unspecified sins or unholy acts.

These were just the two chief concerns, nevermind adjusted living conditions, the requirements for new jobs and equipment to perform it, some calling it the return of Discord, again, an apocalypse, or even-

"Uh, Twilight?" Applejack's asked from behind her, snapping her from her thoughts. Suddenly, the pain in her arms returned, but far duller than before, with compression on her arms from fresh dressings over the wounds. "Zecora's been done fer a minute, ya okay?"

"Y, yeah," she stammered, her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she looked over her shoulder to the farmer at her back. "Just lost in thought." A blessing, she counted it as this time. She'd completely forgotten about the pain, as engrossed in her concerns as she'd become, the treatment had become the least of her concerns. Her attention fell to her arms again, gingerly touching the wrappings as she continued to lose sensation beneath them.

"To ease your pain, you will not feel," Zecora began, packing her supplies into her old saddlebags, modified to buckle around her waist, "your wounds will take some time to heal. However, Twilight, I must confess, when Rainbow Dash summoned me, it gave me stress."

"She was a little upset," Twilight murmured, recalling how the pain flared after Yukari and her shikigami had departed. With the adrenaline and intensity dispersed, all that was left to her were weakness and the consequences of the fox's presence in her body. "Maybe she should've stayed with me tonight instead, no offense, Applejack."

"Naw, 't'aint a thing," Applejack said with a smile, helping her to her feet from the ground. "Weather still needs managin' though, an' we're due fer a doozy of a storm t'morrow from what Ah gather. Ah reckon once that's up she'll be right on over."

"By the time she gets here, we should have the Elements of Harmony as well." Twilight steadied herself as Applejack released her, allowing her to stand on her own. It was a bit of a task, she was still quite weary, but she'd recovered enough strength to manage so much. Turning her eyes back to Zecora, she smiled warmly. "Thank you, I don't know what I'd have done without your help." Well, stitches were an option, but they would have still left scars... and they were stitches.

"Your thanks is appreciated, but not required. For aiding my friends, I will never be tired." Zecora rose, buckling her bags around her waist, her expression more serious. "Possession and change, though, they leave me unsure, and you said you had seen two of the creatures before. Perhaps there are more who lie in wait, to strike upon us on a later date."

"Potentially, but we can't be certain," Twilight responded, turning her head off towards the sunset painted sky. Princess Celestia would soon raise the moon for the evening, as the sun waned on the horizon. The long, terrible day was coming to a close, leaving the magic student with many more questions than she even had the makings of answers for. It left Zecora's suggestion an all too real possibility, with how Yukari had spoken.

_"When the game begins, you will learn very, very quickly how to play."_

"Zecora, are you sure you'd rather not stay with me for the evening?" Twilight offered, turning her head and trying to manage a smile. Her lips failed her, and all that there was to show for her efforts was a flat expression of concern. "I just don't think we should be too far off from anyone, and you're all by yourself in the Everfree Forest."

"Your concern is appreciated, my knowledgeable friend," Zecora said, a confident, reassuring smile on her own lips, "however, my home and myself, I know how to defend. If it puts you at ease though, then I promise you this, I will come quickly to Ponyville if there is something amiss."

Twilight wasn't sure if it was all the rhyming or the message in them, but she gave a relieved giggle. A genuine smile made its way to her face, and she gave an appreciative nod to the once-zebra. "I won't keep you any longer then, the Everfree Forest is treacherous enough during the day, I know just how it can get at night. Thanks for treating me, Zecora."

Zecora nodded and departed silently, pulling the hood of her cloak up as she walked. As their friend returned home, Twilight turned toward her home and began to walk, taking slow, measured steps to the library door. Already she was planning, concerns for her health now taking backseat to strategy. If they were going to defeat someone as powerful as that blonde gap woman, the Elements of Harmony could prove either the end-all solution, or just the start of it. A collaborative effort of the princesses may have made for good measure as well. Maybe Cadence could-

"Twilight?"

Twilight blinked, already standing at her bookshelves, several tomes floating around her as she held another in her hand. Concentration broken by Applejack's voice, they dropped to the ground with heavy thumps all around her. She'd become lost in her thoughts again, it seemed. This time, though, this time it was important. "Sorry, AJ. I'm fine, just-" She was cut off as the cowgirl's hand came over the book in both of hers, gently closing it.

"Ah know what'cher doin', but not t'night." Applejack said gently, adamantly. "Y'all're gettin' yer rest t'night, same with Spike when he gets back from gettin' supplies from Nurse Redheart. T'morrow we can fret ourselves silly over wut ta do."

This did not please Twilight, not an iota. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled away from the blonde's hand, hugging the tome just against her body as she looked her friend straight in the eyes. "Applejack, this isn't something we can just wait on. We don't know when this game of theirs is going to start, we have to prepare."

"Twilight, ya've been possessed, beaten on and worn about slick t'day," Applejack insisted, her voice growing more stern. "Ya can't push like this, 't'ain't healthy. Ya could get sick doin' this t' yerself and Ah ain't just gonna let'cha push on like a stubborn mule."

"Applejack-"

"No, Twilight, listen t' me." Twilight shut up, surprised at how adamant the blonde was. The hand on the book raised up to her shoulder, holding it firmly as those green eyes bored into her own. "Yew've all people ought ta know when ta accept help and not ta push it. Ya ain't forgot th' last Applebuck Season, have ya? Y'all pushed me and pushed me fer a good few days 'til Ah finally got th' hint. Now it's mah turn. We're all scared right now, whether we admit it or not, but y'll be worse shape if ya push yerself. T'night, ya sleep, and t'morrow we'll have the Elements of Harmony an' all th' time we want ta plan."

Twilight still didn't like it; the clock was ticking, and almost every facet of her mind told her sleep could be gotten later, when they had sufficient ground to pick up on again. Still, as she stared Applejack in the eyes, the sincerity was clear as it ever was. Whether she was right or wrong, she truly believed this was the course to take to prepare for the trials ahead. With a sharp breath out, Twilight eased her grip on the book in her arms. "You're certain about this, huh?"

"Would Ah lie to you, sugarcube?" she said with a smile.

"Well, you're not gray," she quipped, sliding around her and placing the book back on its shelf. She gazed around at the others scattered on the floor with a sigh. "I didn't think I had even that much magic left in me after that fox took over today, I've felt weak ever since."

"Well, ya do have the Element of Magic backin' ya," Applejack said, crouching down and gathering the books up in her arms. "They're our strongsuits, so it kinda makes sense. Could'ja imagine if it were someone else, from yer school maybe? Or, Celestia forbid, that lil' smoke blower, Trixie?"

There was a name she hadn't heard in a long while. A smile came to her lips as she began to help clean up her mess. "Maybe if she really did take out an Ursa Major..."

"But she didn't." Applejack stood, beginning to file books where ever there was an empty slot in the shelve. "Y'all and yer magic took the Ursa Minor though, all by yerself. Ah've seen unicorns exhaust themselves and pass right out from overuse, and ya still had some juice, Ah reckon. Who knows... maybe ya got it in ya to take on that hole witch, or wutever she said she wuz."

"Now you're just being silly."

"Mebbe," Applejack turned to Twilight, taking books from her as she finished putting away what she'd gathered. "Though Ah can't honestly say any one of us by ourselves'd fit the job better'n you, without Princess Celestia or Princess Luna bein' accounted fer. Ah ain't sayin' ya won't have us there, jes... Well, jes figurin' Ah guess."

"Thank you, Applejack," she said with warmth in her voice. "I just hope that it doesn't come down to that. Without all of you backing me, especially today... I..." She stalled, closing her eyes as her shoulders trembled a bit. A whimper began to build in her throat, her lips pursed, and her eyes moistened as she sucked a few sharp breaths through her nostrils. Applejack's words of her strength were a strange mixture of kindness, and unintentional cruelty. "... I couldn't do anything today, and without you guys... Without Princess Celestia-" She stopped, watching the farm girl come before her and kneel down. Arms came over her shoulders and drew her in close in a firm, supportive embrace.

"'S alright Twilight," Applejack murmured soothingly. "Take it from me, now's good a time as any ta be honest with yerself."

The words were frank, to the point, and sincere, all she knew her friend for. Before she knew it, she had wrapped her arms around her back, squeezing onto her as much as her injuries would allow. The floodgates opened as she buried her face against Applejack's shoulder, openly sobbing as the helplessness, fear and pain ran its course.

"It'll be okay, sugarcube. Y'know we'll always be here fer ya. Always."

* * *

><p>The embrace of the night came over Equestria, drawing many of its inhabitants into their homes to settle in for a quiet evening, to unwind from the stress of their daily grind, spend time with family, curl up with a good book, just to simply relax. The moon glowed full and bright on the darkened horizon, its brilliance stifling that of countless dimmer stars in the night sky. Beneath that moon, Rainbow Dash worked, squinting behind her goggles as she rounded up storm clouds on an evening shift she'd volunteered to take from Blossomforth. She needed to work, she needed a light thrill, one guaranteed as the clouds grew more and more volatile with each addition to the cluster, merging and compounding the power of the growing storm. The pressure system would soon be powerful enough for full thunder claps and lightning bolts, then she could apply some real skill to keeping her feathers from winding up fried.<p>

_That fox,_ she thought sourly, pressing a cluster of colossal cumulous into the main body of the storm. _If I ever get my hands on her, a Sonic Rainboom'll only be the _second_ most impressive thing I've ever done._ All of her friends had faced trials since they had awoken as humans, but those monsters... youkai, that was what they called themselves, it was more than just an inconvenience. They were dangerous, they had nearly killed Princess Luna, and Twilight had been stripped of her free will and run around like a puppet so they could get Princess Celestia's attention. Rainbow Dash wasn't entirely sure that the fox hadn't had more sinister motives than her mistress had claimed. That was trivial to her though, she wanted to deck the nine-tailed monster all the same for the trouble she'd caused. The multi-chrome haired girl took a deep breath and swung around, heading for the next patch of clouds to round up.

Time drudged on as she worked off her stress in the stratus. As the storm cloud grew, electricity and thunder roared prominently; the tempest now stretched far beyond what the eye could see and over the horizon. Other weather maintainers had taken rotations out, but Dash had kept herself working off the steam built up from the day, against the cautioning of others. She was completely focused on completing work on the storm.

"In the name of Princess Celestia, you're ordered to halt!"

Okay, almost. Drifting back from the brewing tempest, she looked off in the direction of the shout, beholding the sight of several guards chasing a lone figure through the air. She had short cropped white hair, and was of a strong build, a fight for any who tried to tussle with her for sure. Her wings were large, even by their human standards, feathered in white and brown, matched to her brown cargo pants and white tankop. She couldn't make out much else at the speed of the pursuit ( which the guards seemed to be in the process of losing ), but the voice carried on the wind spoke volumes.

"I ain't got time to mess with you lame ponies, catch you losers later!"

It seemed every hair on her body stood up as she heard that voice. She nearly stopped flapping her wings, catching herself as she felt a brief descent, before the white-haired flyer tore off through the air. She'd been playing with them up to that point. At a serious speed, they were left far behind, any hope of her capture gone as quickly as she was. What was she doing in Cloudsdale though? The last time Rainbow had seen her, she was... That didn't matter. Spreading her wings wide, she tore off.

"Raindrops, I'm taking my break!" she hollered as she blew by the blue haired girl, out of earshot probably before she even had time to turn around. Suddenly, everything took backseat to this appearance as she gave chase, blowing past the guards and after the other woman. As she rounded a corner ahead, Rainbow Dash banked, coming just shy of plowing through one of the nimbus homes and tearing down the street, wings pumping with fervor. Against the moonlit glow on the clouds, her target stood out as a mark on her vision that grew larger with every passing second.

Suddenly, she turned, plummeting straight through base of Cloudsdale's roads in a puff of cumulous. Not one to be outdone, Rainbow Dash followed, tearing through the base of the town and following. As she surfaced out beneath the aerial metropolis however, no one was to be seen. The realization hit her immediately; as opposed to attempting an escape, she'd used the clouds as cover. Somewhere, beneath Rainbow Dash's home, her target was roaming unnoticed, likely half blind, but most certainly unnoticed.

Now she had to stop and let her head cool, think of her next move. With adrenaline coursing through her veins and her nerves already vexed to their upper limits for the day, it was a difficult task to accomplish. She already felt like her emotions were toying with her, and she hadn't even caught the white-haired woman yet. Now she had to locate her, and in the dark of the night sky, even against the moon, that would make her harder to pick out in open air.

Rainbow's attention turned below the city, where the training camps were for colts and fillies. As perilously high as they still were, there seemed to be some comfort from the idea that the kids at flight camp would have a shorter drop than if they trained over Cloudsdale. She recalled those days, from the first Sonic Rainboom, up to the Junior Speedsters, placed both further out and much higher than the city, where advanced maneuvers for the young ace fliers could be worked out with less hazard to anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with a full-speed, out of control pegasus. Her thoughts lingered there, hand coming up to cup her chin.

_... Worth a look I guess._ Spinning in the air, she took off again, her pace easier, but still fast. She scanned the skies for any hint of the other, before bursting up through Cloudsdale's base and taking herself well over the city, angling towards the training grounds. She arrived in almost no time and touched down in the stands around the field proper. Rings and training posts were scattered about, some free floating in the air, others firmly, for lack a better word, grounded, on the field. The place was halfway made to mock up the cloudiseum back towards the city where they held their sporting events. The higher altitude for the training area and thinner air served to strengthen their lungs to make maneuvers below easier. At least, that's what she'd been told during her time in the Junior Speedsters.

"So ya followed me, Dash," the voice spoke up from behind her. Rainbow turned on a heel, her eyes narrowing a bit as they locked onto the female, sitting back in the shadows of the stands, half concealed by darkness. As she rose, towering over her, she approached, golden eyes glinting in the moonlight, offset by pale violet face paint ringing around them.

"Gilda," Rainbow Dash muttered with a bit more venom than she'd intended, "you're a long ways out from griffon airspace."

She saw the feathers on her old running mate's wings bristle a bit as if they'd been ruffled. "Yeah, ya know, I just love coming out and seeing how bad I can blow Equestria's finest in a race. Just a hobby of mine."

"Like being an obnoxious jerk?"

"Better than a damned flip-flop."

The two stared each other down a moment, hard. Five seconds into the actual reunion and they were already talking like they were ready to swing on one another. The last time Rainbow Dash had seen her old friend, the two parted on a sour note, the mix of old friends and new a particularly volatile concoction to the griffon, not "cool" enough for her, as it were. Words were enough back then, but now, with nerves wracked throughout Equestria... their _world_, in fact, Rainbow Dash wasn't sure that would be all that would solve it if they kept going like they were.

"Look..." she mumbled, taking a breath, trying to ease herself off, "what're you doing here, Gilda? I haven't gotten so much as a letter from you since the party."

"Like I need to clear it with you when I come into town," she said gruffly, pushing past her and descending the bleachers' steps. "Mind your own business."

Rainbow Dash followed her, determined to get her answer. "So what do you call that fly-by you did then? Out of all the places in the wide blue sky, you pick where I'm working?"

"Oh, come on, when've _you _ever done a night shift before now?"

She had her there.

"When I did see you though, I was hoping we'd blow by before you caught wind. Dealing with you or your lame friends is the last thing I want to do right now. Then those tin heads had to open their damned mouths."

That stung her pride a bit more than Rainbow Dash was willing to admit. Narrowing her eyes, she stopped behind Gilda as they reached the field, cocking her head to one side. "So then now what? What are you really here for then?"

Gilda scoffed, turning to face her with a cynical smirk on her lips. "Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe you should get that pink pain in the ass to get your answers for you, she seems to have a talent for popping up where she's not wanted."

"Pinkie only ever tried to be kind to you," Rainbow spat, digging her hands into her pockets, "which I can see was a real waste of time. But you're in Cloudsdale's skies now, Gilda, so you're dealing with me."

"Oh, yeah, what're you gonna do, Dash? Spin circles around me, maybe give me one of those legendary "Sonic Rainbooms"? Or go and narc on me, kill off whatever we had good between us left?"

She stepped forward, coming up close to Gilda with narrowed eyes.

"Being loyal isn't a weakness of mine. Let me say it again, if you have _guards chasing you_, I have a pretty damn good reason to be concerned myself." Rainbow Dash paused as she heard something metallic slide, glancing down to Gilda's hip, where a dagger fashioned in the shape of a talon was in her grip.

"Things're different, Dash. Back off."

The rainbow haired girl did just that, taking a step or two back. At first, she had to wonder why Gilda was armed; then again, griffons were armed from birth. The change must have been disarming in more ways than one for someone who could be as defensive, and offensive, as her.

"G, listen," she muttered in a strong tone, "just because we parted like that doesn't mean I don't care about you... Celestia's sakes, we've been fillyhood friends. Please, if that means anything to you-"

"I don't wanna hear it," Gilda snapped, sliding the dagger into a holster at the small of her back. She reached up, harshly jabbing a finger into Dash's chest."I'm here on business of my own kind. Yours and mine? Wrapped up at that party a long time ago. You wanna just ditch me when the chips are down, as far as I'm concerned, I got nothin' for you, and you're wasting my time. Scram."

Those words genuinely hurt this time. As she felt her heart begin to drop, her chest grew tight, and her eyes narrowed. Reaching up with a balled up fist, she smacked Gilda's arm off to the side as her shoulders began to tremble. She was about at the limit of her patience, of which she felt she'd found amazing reserves of today. She opened her mouth, words less than friendly building up in her throat, before a strange, chromatic hue passed over them, a rainbow of lights pouring down on them from above.

The two looked up, beholding a small figure, no larger than perhaps a child and dark against the moon above, with huge, wiry wings tipped with seven glowing lights... no, were those gems? Crystals?

_ What the hay _is_ that...? _She was broken from her thoughts by a growl, feral and deep behind her, and sound of steel being drawn. She turned to Gilda, watching as she bounded off the ground with such force that the platform shook.

**"Hold it!"**she bellowed with fury, her voice carrying across the empty night sky and halting her prey. Dash watched her charge, paused only a moment as she tried to process what was going on; who was that, and why was Gilda getting ready to attack them? Were they the reason she'd come to Cloudsdale? She couldn't answer any of the questions before she found herself leaping up and soaring after the furious girl. She closed the gap between her and her old friend quickly, stealing glances at the figure. A little girl, she was carrying something, a staff of some sort, and was dressed in red, the same red that shone off her eyes from the light of the moon.

"I don't want to play with you," she hollered, "you're all boring when your wings break!"

_What?_

"Hold that throat of yours out you cocky little bitch," Gilda roared, coming up on the child and drawing her dagger back, "I'll give you "boring"!"

For an instant, Rainbow Dash feared for the child. Clearly, she was not right in the head, she needed help, and Gilda was ready to slit her throat. Acting off of her instinct, she broke into full speed, instantaneously coming on the two and slamming into Gilda's side, plowing her away from the child as she heard something brush by her, and felt pain sear through the tip of one of her wings.

"Lemme go Dash!" Gilda shrieked as she was held tight around the waist, trying to escape and slowly gaining ground. "That kid's a monster!"

"Are you getting _any _air to your brain this high up?" She snapped, shoving her away and floating back. "She's a kid, and-"

Something tore in the sky, turning Dash's head back towards the training camp. She watched a crescent of red light fly down towards the ground past it, in the shape of a gash that had split the grounds in half, causing them to begin fragmenting and breaking off, disintegrating. Splitting cloud was no great feat, but the size of the gash was terrifying, stretching from one end of the camp to the other. Rainbow Dash turned, seeing the same crimson light fading slowly from the child's hand, and absent-mindedly noting the charred feathers on her wing as they beat in front of her face.

"Ya see?" Gilda hollered, "She's a little freak! I gotta take her out, now move!"

"Why are you even after her, Gilda? What's got you so crazy that you-"

"Hey."

Dash's attention turned to the child as she spoke, watching her turn her head and stare blankly at her. They exchanged gazes, one evaluating the other. It was as Rainbow Dash stared into those scarlet eyes that she realized it wasn't moon light, they were actively glowing on their own, fueled by whatever power it was that had let her do... that, to the training camp.

"You're different than the other flying humans," the child said, a smile coming over her lips. "My name's Flandre Scarlet, do you want to play?"

There was no time to respond. Before she knew it, Gilda had weaved around her and charged the child again, silent rage in the brief glimpse she caught in her face as she lunged at the little girl, weapon-bearing hand outstretched for her throat.

A crack shot through the air, and Gilda shot off to the side, tossed like a ragdoll and spiraling out of control towards the ground thousands of feet below. The child's smile grew, and her eyes widened expectantly. Rainbow Dash gazed on in horror for a moment, slowly backing off of this child. Gilda was right about one thing, this kid was dangerous unlike anything she'd ever seen.

_Oh, crap, Gilda! _Wasting not a second, she twisted and took off like a shot after the falling former griffon.

"Hey, we haven't started yet!" Flandre cried out after her. Dash didn't care, she beat her wings furiously, pursuing the unresponsive form of her friend. Bad history, good history, it didn't matter, Gilda was in trouble, and they both needed a distance between themselves and that terrifying child. She absolutely did not want to experience whatever the little girl defined as "playing".

She reached Gilda in almost no time, slowing as she wrapped her arms around the larger girl. She'd taken a hard blow to the side of the head; the entire left side of her face was soaked in blood. To Dash's relief, she was breathing. It gave her some ease, as she shifted and brought one of her arms up under Gilda's knees, cradling her. The weight on her arms made her miss just being able to ride others on her back, but that was a problem for later. For now, escape was the priority, as she was properly reminded of by several dozen spheres of light that sprayed out around her, colored in as many hues as her the wings of the child they sought to flee from. She weaved around a few, and gazed back in the direction from which she'd fled. Flandre approached, holding her strange black staff as if it were a bow, energy rippling between the tips. With a quick pull and release, countless more spheres launched, accelerating faster than the child was already flying at them in a slowly spreading wall.

"Darn it!" Rainbow Dash twisted and dove straight down, feeling heat on her sneakers as she grazed past the barrage. Gilda's extra weight was too much for her to try anything fancy with, it was a flight for their lives now. Flandre followed with swiftly, and the attacks were unrelenting, spraying down past her as she weaved through the spheres, watching them bore into woodlands below, laying waste to all they touched. If even one of them hit home, neither she nor Gilda would make it out alive. It was all or nothing now, she'd have to pull her ace in the hole. She beat her wings furiously, plummeting faster and faster towards the ground. Her bones ached and muscles burned with exertion, but she kept picking up speed. Soon she was outracing the attacks, dodging by them one by one as new waves were left completely behind, but it still wasn't fast enough. Faster, faster, faster, she worked until she thought her wings would fail and continued to push through as a familiar pull gripped onto her. Everything began to blur around her, just a little more...

"Laevatein!" the child called behind her. The word faintly registered to Rainbow as everything burst, a chromatic explosion blowing trees free of their rooting in the immediate area as the banked hard, skimming the tall grass and shooting over the earth. It worked, she pulled off another Sonic Rainboom! Now she just needed to speed away to Ponyville, it would only take a couple of moments at her current speed. Everything would be alright.

Then, pain tore through her right side as her wing came aflame. She couldn't even find it in herself to scream as she heard the thunderous splitting of the earth, the explosive force of fire behind her before she came crashing to the ground. Instinct took over from there as she twisted, dropping Gilda's legs and wrapping both arms around her in a protective embrace while she skidded across the woodland floor, blowing through grass and brush as if they were nothing. After what seemed like forever, she slammed hard into a tree, a shrill cry marking her impact before she fell flat to a halt on the ground. She lay atop Gilda, unsure of whether she was alright after that horrific crash, but Rainbow could answer for herself. As she shifted from atop her, bones cracked through her body, forcing another cry out of her throat as she fell over beside the unconscious woman.

_What happened? _Rainbow cocked her head up as she wondered, looking back from whence they'd came. Terror coupled with her pain as she watched fire burn high up from the ground, its source settled in a gorge cleaved into the earth. While those flames began to flicker out and die, others continued to burn high above the ground, her young assailant the source. Her staff flared brilliantly in her hand, the blaze wrapping up her arm, but she didn't so much as flinch where the flames licked against her bare flesh.

_This can't be real,_ Rainbow Dash thought, staring on as the child descended towards them. _How could anyone even dream of standing up to that?_She'd act quickly, ignore her own pain, and dash for Gilda. She hadn't yet looked at her wing, but if what she felt was any indicator, flight was straight out of the window. Yet as she pushed to her knees, she collapsed forward, wheezing out in pain and staring at soil and grass. Her strength was spent, and that simple motion awakened every nerve in her body to throbbing pain. Through her rainbow hued bangs, red trickled down the corner of her eye, a cool trail leading from a warm, aching spot in the back of her head.

"I was wrong."

Rainbow Dash looked up, twisting her head best she could manage as she watched the flora wither and die around Flandre, just from sheer force off her being, a force that threatened to strangle the breath out of her. The amusement in her face that had so frightened her was gone, replaced with an, if it were possible, even more terrifying look of disappointment.

"You just run away, and you've only got one bomb? Your danmaku isn't good at all. You're boring."

"W, what're you talking about?" Rainbow rasped. The child sniggered in response, halting a scant few feet from her and coming down to crouch.

"But you did better than the other one over there." The girl's eyes now glowed wholly red as she reached out. Rainbow Dash's world went half dark as her hand came over her eye. She was lifted, toes dragging against the soil as her body dangled in the little girl's grip.

"Stop it…" she growled through grit teeth, the hand on her face squeezing. She made a move to reach up and grab at the limb and try and pull free of her vice grip; instead, her own arm was grabbed by Flandre's free one. It was yanked out to the side, harder than should have been possible for a child her size, and there was a sickening pop, followed by a scream. The limb was released, left to hang motionless at her side, dislocated.

"The last one I did that to, it came right off." Flandre cackled, lolling her head back and lifting Rainbow Dash higher. "Maybe I can make you last a little longer!"

"_Enough!_"

Rainbow's world rocked suddenly, and she was dropped to the ground, landing with a jolt on her bad arm. She sat up, limbs fresh with adrenaline, and began to nurse her injured arm. The sight she beheld left her more shocked than anything else. Atop the child was Gilda, making a somewhat successful attempt at pinning her down. The former griffon had effectively saved her life.

A cracking noise rang out, and just like that, Gilda was flying again, slamming down on her back several feet behind Rainbow Dash. She gasped for breath and clutched her chest, curling up into a ball on the ground as her body rattled in pain.

"Gilda!" Rainbow Dash called out, shuffling across the grass on her knees until she was at her side. Her breathing was broken and raspy, coupled with pained moans as her hands favored her chest. She was hurt, bad, and needed medical attention probably more than Dash herself did. Wrapping and arm around her waist, she dragged her to sit up, cringing as uttered a pained cry.

"That wasn't nice," Flandre said, her voice a murmur on their ears. Rainbow Dash didn't dare turn and look, dragging herself to her feet with Gilda held close in her good arm. She turned, her eyes consumed by red light as her temper flared. "Why won't either of you play right?"

"You have serious problems with what you call playing, kid!" Rainbow snapped, shifting Gilda's arm over her shoulder and beginning to back up with her. She didn't know what options were left to her, if any. Was she near Ponyville? It was dark, and she'd not paid attention to the direction she fled in before, let alone crashed and burned. Perhaps if she called for help, someone would hear. But then, wouldn't that just be bringing more victims in for this insane brat? No, she needed to be away from the town, as far out as possible. Neither of them were in any shape to run though, let alone fly. The girl's ability to fly would have them run down in a matter of seconds. Then those powers...

_What do I do now?_

* * *

><p>Another short game about to be brought to a close, that's all Flandre saw as she gazed at the two. Laevatein burned readily in her hand as she prepared to clear the field of their presence, and seek out more intriguing playmates. So far the old youkai's promise of entertainment could only be found in quantity, not quality. In that mountainous place with all the other flying humans, she'd left in her wake a trail of those who had challenged her and failed; well, parts of them, anyways. This was the first thing resembling a challenge she'd encountered so far, but even then, one lousy bomb against her wand's fiery power made for a sad display. The rainbow headed one had even broken herself performing it. Now one of those weaklings who had trailed her to this country had interrupted her fun, and Flandre's patience waned far enough.<p>

Holding a hand out, she eyed the larger of the two, the white haired one who had challenged her first. Unconscious, helpless, unable to resist; not that it mattered. A blaze flickered to life in her hand, small at first, but growing, swelling until it burned with fervor scarcely contained. It twisted and roiled about itself, the licks of fire weaving until they formed a fiery eye in her palm. The rainbow headed one was nervous, any fool could see. How far that fear went... Flandre's eyes shifted to the nearest tree, and her palm closed.

"Kyuuu," she intoned playfully, before the tree exploded, raining down on them in a storm of splinters and shredded leaves, no individual piece of the trunk larger than a toothpick. She looked back to her conscious foe, and took a step forward. The girl scrambled back and fell flat, nervousness replaced with utter terror, with the frustration of being able to do nothing to stop her.

"Your turn," she said, amused enough by the look on her face as she opened her palm once more. The flame rekindled, swirling as she focused back on the white headed woman. Her eyes widened, and her lips pulled back into a sneer as the vampire child snapped her hand shut.

For a brief instant the world was dark, and eyes were all about her. In the next, she was in the air, catching herself from plummeting to sandy flatland below painted blue in the moonlight.

"You can't go that far yet, child," the gap youkai's voice said. Flandre's head spun around, catching sight of several small gaps scattered all about.

"You said you wouldn't interrupt my game," she cried out with indignation, furious that her fun had been cut short by this abrupt transport. "that I'd get to do things my way!"

"If you followed my rules. I explicitly forbade several people from being your playthings until I told you otherwise. I would think a girl with hair like that would stand out even in Gensokyo."

She tightened her expression, knowing she'd been caught. She didn't have Remilia's charismatic words to cut her a way out of this, she'd have to defend herself. Looking straight into one of the miniscule holes, as all the eyes seemed to peer right back at her, she set a hand over her chest.

"I was just going to make the white one go "kyuu", not her yet!" Perfect defense.

"Yes, Flandre," Yukari responded drolly, "and I'm certain you in no way were going to take off Rainbow Dash's arm doing that, or blow off half of her torso."

Darn it. "Why should I even listen to you? If you're really so great, why don't you play with me instead, and really let me have fun?" The Scarlet child sneered, holding Laevatein out in challenge as its fires glowed more furiously. "Even my big sister is cautious about you, and she really doesn't like you around the red-white priestess. You should play some danmaku with me."

"I'm sorry, young lady, but that just won't be happening," Yukari said in a casual tone. "There are some chores I have to attend to so that the game goes smoothly. But I do encourage you to get comfortable in your new setting. The sun will be up in just a couple hours, and you should probably pick a place to settle down for the day. Take care, now."

Flandre didn't even have the opportunity to protest as the gaps closed all around her. She was stranded, God only knew where on the foreign world, without prey, without entertainment, and the threat of a sunrise in just a scant couple hours. Even though her power put her beyond the reach of being burned to death by it, she hated how weak it made her feel. Where was she, even? There was nothing but sand and rocks about and a few, pitchfork shaped, green trees in scattered patches. She was alone, deserted, with no idea of where to go, because of that stupid old gap woman...

The Scarlet Devil's little sister shot her hand out towards one of the rocky flats nearby, the eye of flame exploding to life in her hand before she extinguished it with a hateful squeeze. The air rippled with the sound of thunder as the rock face erupted, exploding into thousands upon thousands of pieces of rubble and so much more dust. Tears of frustration burned in her eyes as she turned off and began to fly in any direction. She'd find her way back, and continue her game, Yukari and her own play be damned. She would not be denied her fun.

* * *

><p>The child had been spirited away, and she and Gilda were safe for the moment. By Luna's grace, they'd been spared what would most likely have been a horrific end at the hands of that psychotic little girl. She just kept repeating those thoughts over in her head, replaying the recent events several times over in her head and surveying the damage to the land.<p>

Rainbow Dash's strength went out of her legs after a few moments, Gilda's extra weight, her own exhaustion both emotional and physical coupling and bringing her to her knees. She could swear that there were voices whispering on the wind, but those were the furthest things from her mind as she returned to the moment at current, and laid her old friend gingerly on the grass beside her. She ignored her own pains as best she could and worked to survey the damage.  
>"Gilda," she murmured, fighting back weakness as adrenaline from the worst of the encounter began to fade. The ex-griffon slipped into unconsciousness since then, but didn't seem to sustain too much serious injury, contrary to earlier concerns. Maybe a concussion from that blow to the head back over Cloudsdale, but until they could find a doctor, she seemed alright by the best of Dash's knowledge.<p>

That was more than she could say for herself, as her left arm dangled uselessly at her side, any movement at all sending needles and fire down that side. Her back and chest throbbed, her body was covered with scuffs, scrapes and scratches from the brutal crash landing, and she was growing lighter headed by the moment. Her right wing was what she feared for the most, to the point she didn't want to know just how bad it was. It took her some time to muster the courage, but she turned her head, however slowly, and surveyed it. Although it appeared unbroken, it was badly burned, much of the sky blue down erased by Flandre's flaming weapon, and replaced with blistering and burnt flesh; the latter of which even had a pungent scent as she faced it. Between the sting of tears in her eyes and the wretch-inducing twist in her gut, she couldn't look at it for more than a few seconds. This was far worse than just a training accident, she didn't want to consider the implications.

"Is anyone out here?" she heard the voices again, this time with some successful registry as they were much closer. She gazed in the direction of a small hill ahead of a grove, and flinched as she recognized them.

"Rarity?" she called back, her voice cracking with emotion and exhaustion. "Fluttershy?"

"Rainbow Dash?" Rarity responded, alarm more present in her tone, beginning to run outright now. "Oh heavens, dear, you look awful! Are you alright?"

"Somehow," she muttered, considering she was still alive to say as much. "But, Gilda... What're you two even doing here?"

"I was staying with Fluttershy for the evening because of the mess today," Rarity explained as she jogged up. "It's just a short ways from here. We could see the fire in the sky from there and came to see what was happening; I imagine there'll be others along shortly as well, and-Rainbow Dash! You look positively terrible!"

She wondered how she looked from the distance, if it took Rarity had to go as far as to say it twice. "Gilda's not faring much better, she needs help. Like, _now._"

"Gilda?" Fluttershy's voice quivered a bit, looking down to the unconscious woman. "That's... your griffon friend?"

Rainbow Dash was given pause at the clear hesitation Fluttershy displayed. She understood it, of course, her other fillyhood friend had confided in her the details of what happened in town between she and Gilda quite some time later. Still, Rainbow looked back down to the white-haired girl, balling up a fist with her good hand in her lap.

"We were attacked," she said, disregarding the question entirely. "Some kid... she was strong, stupidly strong, and crazier than anything. She made that stupid fox seem..." Rainbow shook her head, cringing only slightly from that quick gesture as she looked back up to them, pushing through a passing blur of her vision. "You've gotta help her."

The timid one began to sweat, lowering herself to her knees as she looked between the two fast flyers. "I... I only know a little about people, I don't... Oh my goodness... what about you? You look so much worse!"

"I know what I look like!" Rainbow Dash hissed with impatience. Fluttershy recoiled from the snap, and she cursed herself for the shortness of her temper. "I'm sorry, just... please, get her some help..." Eyes turned to Rarity as she laid her hand upon Fluttershy's shoulder and knelt next to her.

"You both will get help. We'll get you to the hospital, and-" Her head snapped up suddenly, looking past Rainbow Dash. Her hand shot to holster for her wand on her leg, but before she could wrap her fingers around its shaft, her eyes glazed over, and she collapsed to one side. Fluttershy was the next to fall, sprawled out back on the grass.

Rainbow Dash turned her head to where Rarity had been looking, a flash of adrenaline and fury overtaking her as she recognized the assailant. Finding strength where she had none to spare, she twisted, her bones cracking with each movement, and lunged, beating both wings as she threw herself at her target.

The efforts only earned her a face down place in the earth, with a brunt, painful blow to her chest sending wind rushing from her lungs. She lay there, her already pain wracked body now screaming at her as she tried to breathe. Her head twisted upward, defiance in her gaze as she looked up past one of nine golden tails, flicking on either side of her foe. Behind her, several small, eye-ridden holes hovered, three shooting out of her range of sight. The yellow eyed beast gazed down to her with evaluative eyes, before a fourth hole came at her.

"It's time to play the game."

* * *

><p><strong>WHAM!<strong> Her boot met the tree, pouring apples into their buckets placed precisely around its trunk. Applejack and all of Ponyville, all of Cloudsdale even, had gotten an uncomfortably early start to the day with only bad news to show for it. About everyone knew the telltale eruption of a Sonic Rainboom, it was a one of a kind sound that could not be replicated anywhere else in Equestria. That, at the darkest hour of the night, was annoying; the nightmarish roar and the events that followed it brought only alarm after that.

Applejack tried to focus on her work in the morning downpour, the dour gray skies providing relief from what would have normally been the time Princess Celestia's sun came overhead and began beating down on her with its heat. Applebucking... kicking, whatever, had changed perhaps the least of things in her life, and gave Honesty's representative a sense of peace amidst the bizarre new Equestria, no matter what the weather.

Not this morning, however. Her attempts at focus failed and she was brought right back to the events of the night before. There had been some kind of encounter in the plains outside of Ponyville. A huge gorge, carved as if with a molten blade, had split the earth not far from Fluttershy's cottage on the outskirts of the town. Although she was aware Rarity had stayed the night with her for support, as she herself had with Twilight, the alarm urged a visit. Nobody was home though, not a sign of them to be found, not even that rowdy rabbit of hers.

To make matters worse, word had trickled down from Cloudsdale of a fugitive on the loose, at the same time that the Junior Speedsters' training camp had been reported missing. Some reports claimed they had seen bright red lights soaring across the sky, others an entire rainbow of them falling towards a pockmarked earth below, yet there was no sign of Rainbow Dash either, last seen pursuing that fugitive. Applejack could only piece together that it was another of that gap devil's tricks; no mincing of words or other dialects, a devil, that's all she and her pets were making themselves out to be in her eyes.

_Threaten mah home,_ she thought, kicking again as another rain of red fruit came down with the water, _hurt mah friends, an' now Rainbow, Fluttershy an' Rarity're up'n gone._ She couldn't deny, she understood exactly how Rainbow Dash was feeling the night before as she slammed her boot into the tree again, and again. _Now we're playin' this game o' theirs, like we're sum kinda toys. 'S not right, darn it! 'S not right!_

Applejack paused, cracking and splintering noises reaching her ears. She lowered her leg, grimacing a bit at the sight of her boot print, embedded in the tree. She'd let it slip that she had to be cautious; earth ponies, even prior to the change, were generally strong where their talents lied, and the Apple family had toiled the farm since Granny Smith's prime days. She and Big Macintosh both had strength to spare. Reaching out, she ran her thumb along the groove of the imprint, grimacing.

"Sorry 'bout that," she mumbled to it, leaning her head up against the trunk with a weary sigh. Fretting wasn't doing her any good, but it was easier to say than not do. If her friends were endangered in any way, where ever they'd gone, or maybe been taken, what good was she doing there? Yet there were no leads, no trails, just a ravaged stretch of earth and sightings of one thing or another. All Applejack could find it in her to do was work off the stress and pray for something that would set them on the right track to recovering their lost friends.

So she did, bearing the weight of the harvest herself and bringing the fruits back in to the barn, until lightning began to come down with the rain. No one with half a cup of wits would be out there in that, so she was forced to put an end to her labor as she brought in the last batch, returning to the house, soaked to the bone.

"I was beginning to think we were going to have to come get you."

Applejack looked toward the fireplace as she entered, where Twilight sat in an arm chair with a book in her lap that was easily thicker than her arm, and Winona, the family's collie dog, asleep at her feet. She'd brought her along after their three friends' disappearance, uncomfortable leaving the injured magician alone after this disappearance of three of their friends, all able in their own rights of taking care of themselves. There'd been no word of delivery of the Elements of Harmony, either, and no letters from the princess to indicate whether things were taking turns for the best or worst. No question in the farm girl's mind, their situation was as bleak and gray as the sky.

"Sorry 'bout that, Twi." Applejack pried her boots off at the door, and set her hat to drip dry just off to the side of them on a hook. She approached the fireplace and took a seat on the floor, offering a smile at the sight of Granny Smith napping in her rocker. "Where're Spike an' Applebloom?"

"Making lunch I believe. Big Macintosh is in there with them supervising."

"Good call." Applejack sighed, pulling the tie from her hair and letting it fall out against her back. "Ah'm guessin' ya still ain't heard anythin' either?"

"No," Twilight said in a crestfallen tone, setting a marker in her book and shutting it gently. "Blossomforth just stopped by about a quarter of an hour ago looking for information on Rainbow Dash herself. Apparently Dash had taken over her shift last night when all of that chaos occurred outside of town; she feels terrible about it."

"'T'ain't her fault no more'n ours." Applejack lowered her head, a look of frustration growing on her face. "Scratch that... mebbe we're the ones really ta blame. Wut're we supposed ta do against these odds, Twi? Ya saw, naw, ya experienced firsthand wut kinda power we're up against... Wut'd we really accept?"

The silence was palpable, and Applejack did not take that well. Twilight was always forthcoming when it boiled down to things that posed a problem for her friends. If there was trouble, if there was danger or even the chance of, they knew from her if she had an even an inkling of what was going on figured out. In that way, hearing nothing from the magic student was worse than any actual bad news.

"What I can say," Twilight murmured after a moment, rising from her seat and walking up to the fireplace, "is that it's imperative we find the others soon. If we can't come together, if we can't activate the Elements of Harmony, then... Then..."

"It's alright, Twilight," Applejack said, closing her eyes and forcing herself to take a few breaths, to allow her nerves to settle. "Ah get'cha... We're in a heap of trouble."

As if summoned by the words, a thunderous crash rumbled from outside; except it was not the kind of thunder that she would have expected on such a stormy day. Bellowing, bestial roars did little to curb the farm girl's growing concern. Winona awoke, cocking her head and beginning to growl before she rushed to the door, beginning to paw at it and bark angrily. Taking only a second to exchange glances with Twilight, the two rushed after, Applejack more or less stomping into her boots as she flung the door open and grabbed her hat, charging out into the storm. Twilight took only enough time to conjure a magical bubble around them that would shield them from the downpour. Winona took the lead, and they followed suit.

As they ran through the orchard, the sounds grew clearer, and the edge of the Everfree Forest even closer. The roaring was bestial, terrifying, and Applejack could see something akin to an old fear blossom in Twilight's eyes. Another crash, and the earth itself rumbled beneath their feet, tree leaves rustling from the impact and apples coming falling down all around them. The storm's intensity seemed to pick up, and lightning cut through the air in the distance. It was as if the storm, in spite of the control of the weather team, were telling them just how dire what they were approaching was.

As they crested the next hill, Twilight gasped just before the earth shook again, the reason clear; the weight of a hydra came crashing down, barreling through the outlying trees of the untamed forest. Its two outer heads wailed in a mournful cry, as the other two matched them with equal parts fury. As it staggered to its feet, gashes and cuts were visible at various points along its body, and the end of the hydra's tail was bent at an unnatural angle, hanging limp and broken.

"Wut in tarnation is that thing doin' all the way out here?" Applejack called out as Winona barked and tried to charge, only to slam head first into Twilight's barrier. Applejack looked to see Twilight holding her wand out, reinforcing it, penning the pooch in place.

"I don't know, the only place I've ever seen one was in Froggy Bottom Bog! I'm more concerned with what's doing... THAT, to it though!"

One of the outer heads twisted around in their direction, a curious gaze on its face before it set to bellowing furiously at them. The other three joined in suit, and turned wholly.

"Wutever it is, Ah think it jes lost interest in it!" Applejack rushed forward, scooping Winona into her arms and preparing to turn tail. If that hydra was turning on them, distance would be their best friend. Applejack was proud of her strength, but not cocksure. Nobody in Equestria could take on one of those things barehanded.

The hydra's central two heads suddenly crashed down, implanted into the earth.

"Wha, what was that?" Twilight stammered, turning back to look at the beast. A small figure sprang from one of the heads, slamming into it sidelong and throwing it out sprawling to the ground. A larger one on the opposite grounded head made a strange gesture, before dozens of energy spheres and beams sprayed out, crisscrossing and striking the beast along its face and throat.

"Wus that...?" Applejack's head turned to Twilight, seeing the same expression on her face. To their chagrin, they had to get closer and investigate. Setting Winona down, Applejack held her gently at either side of her face. "Go get Big Macintosh, girl, get 'im ta bring somethin' sharp too." Winona barked, and as Twilight opened the barrier for her, took off back towards the house without looking back.

"Are you sure she'll be able to do that?" Twilight asked as they took off towards the battle.

"Winona's a bright girl, she'll get it done. Fer now, let's see wut we're up against here."

The two raced down the hill towards the battle. The idea wasn't to get engaged in combat itself, as that would likely only end with hospitalization, or worse. Rather, they would get near enough that they could see and hear clearly just what was happening, and no more. At one point, as they drew close enough, Twilight grabbed Applejack by the hand and raised her wand into the air. Their shield fell, and they were engulfed in a flash of violet light. The next instant, Applejack found herself behind a patch of brush several dozen yards in front of the combat, out of any haphazard swinging range of the reptilian mammoth, and at the backs of its two combatants.

"Yuugi, watch this!" the shorter one called out before she sprang up into the sky, several stories off of just a single bound with relative ease. She swung two chains with shaped weights around and threw them, giving them a tug and looping them back around the hydra's neck, fashioning a collar out of them. Like some kind of wild child, she launched herself by them to its head, and pulled up, forcing the monster to rear its whole body as she cackled wildly. "It's like a big ugly horse!"

Applejack wasn't sure she wanted to see the expression she was personally making at that comment.

"C'mon, Suika, we've been playing with this thing for what must've been an hour now!" the taller one said. She seemed to care little for the head that was striking at her like a viper. The cow girl's breath caught in her throat, thinking she'd be snatched up and devoured whole. Instead, she watched her toss the large red dish in the hand on that side to the other hand and draw her arm across her body, before swinging back out, catching the hydra in the nose and sending its head hurtling to the ground next to her, soaking it with blood. "We either need to find a drink or find something better to do!"

"It keeps getting up though!"

"So put it down!"

"Fiiiine, fine, let's get a good drink though! You're buying!"

"What in Celestia's name..." Twilight murmured, aghast at the tone of the conversation. "They're seriously just playing with that? A hydra?"

"Ah, Ah guess so," Applejack whispered back, unsettled by the idea that they faced down a creature that powerful with such a lackadaisical manner. "Couldn't imagine 'em just sayin' so fer the dickens of it." She blinked, hearing the chains rattle as a glow shot up through them, out of the hydra and into the little one atop its head. It suddenly began to waver, and as the chains unraveled, she leapt, bounding clear over the two other heads and at the other outside one.

With a suddenness Applejack did not expect, the girl blew up in size dramatically. In one instant, she had been probably bite sized to the four-headed monster; now she stood half as tall as it. She flipped in the air, clutching both hands over her head, and slammed them down into the head she had flown at, driving it deep into the ground like a railroad spike before landing thunderously on the other side of it.

"Hey, set me up!" the one named Yuugi called out, tossing her dish to the side with what looked like practiced precision, and gently landing it in the grass out of the way of the battle. The now colossal girl sprang again, landing on the hydra's back, and leaning forward, taking both its remaining, conscious necks in her hands and slamming them to the ground.

"What'cha gonna do?" she asked, shrinking down to her original size with the same speed she grew, bounding off to the side.

"Watch," she said, hopping up and coming down hard on the creature's necks, one arm grasping each of the two laid out. They were so compressed under her grip, they looked in danger of choking out, the hisses and roars from earlier now raspy struggles to breathe. Yuugi set her feet in the soil, and heaved. The next thing any of them knew, the bulbous body and tail of the hydra were airborne, soaring over their heads as the necks bent along the ground.

Applejack was in as much awe as Twilight was, unable to believe what they were seeing. The child-looking one of the two horned women even seemed to be cheering as if this were a party trick. The hydra flew straight back as Yuugi kicked off the ground and released the heads, performing a perfect backflip before landing on her feet, touching down even before the monster's body crashed, before its heads whipped upright and, carried by momentum, turned its body further in a complete flip of its own. She could only gaze on in awe and disbelief.

As a shadow grew over them, she was shaken from the sight and drawn to a new one, looking up to see one of the hydra heads coming right down at them. She had been so enthralled by the feat of strength, she'd completely neglected to notice that the monster's throw back had been a throw in their direction. Now, several hundred pounds of hydra head and throat were hurtling at them from above.

"Twilight!" she called out, seeing the magician's head cock up. Wasting not another second, she turned and began to run. Her flight halted, though, as she noticed the lack of Twilight's presence, turning sharply about and seeing her staring back up with horror etched deep into her face. "_Twilight, move!_" That seemed to shake her up; with a quickness, Twilight burst into light, teleported clear of the danger. Now they were-

Applejack caught something in the corner of her eyes, turning her head and stumbling back. She had been so caught up with Twilight, she'd neglected to think of any of the other three of the hydra's heads, and she had stopped perfectly beneath one. There was no time left to react, all that Applejack could think to do was bring her arms up and try to shield herself as its massive jaw came roaring down at her.

What had happened next confused her deeply. She heard the crash in front of her, and the sound of flesh smacking flesh, but felt nothing. Rather, as the din of thunder and battle fell away, she heard strained grunting and breathing behind her. She turned her head, eyes growing wide as saucers as she beheld Big Macintosh standing tall, arms outstretched, and every muscle in his body bulging with strain as he held the hydra head by the jaw, his feet sunk up to his ankles in the muddy earth from the force of the impact.

"Big Mac!"

He gave a curt nod, before heaving with all of his might and rolling the head off to the side of them both. The act complete, he set to collapsing forward. Applejack acted quickly, rushing up and catching hold of her brother as she lowered them both to the ground. She looked up past him, seeing Winona growling at the unconscious head nearby, trying her best to guard them from it, and past her, Twilight, reappearing from Celestia only knew where and running the last distance between them.

"Oi!"

Applejack and Twilight's heads turned to the hydra's torso, where the ones known as Yuugi and Suika both stood, gazing ponderously down at them.

"You guys alright?"

* * *

><p>As the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Manor and self-professed most charismatic, most powerful vampire in the whole of Gensokyo, Remilia Scarlet had much more important things to attend to at high noon, when the sun hovered in the sky at full force overhead; sleep chief among them. Yet now, she had two crises on her hands, and not an iota of a clue on what to do about them. The frills of her pallid pink gown and cap rippled against the warm midday breeze as she flew, leathery wings were spread wide as she rode the air currents. The black corset, opera gloves and boots were a bit uncomfortable in the day's heat, but a lady had to still look a lady, especially on business.<p>

At the top of her list, Flandre had escaped the manor grounds, with not even a trace of where she'd gone left behind. It was the end of that thought that concerned her the most. The two boasted five centuries of life after death behind them, but Remilia, for her eternally young body, was the only one of the two who acted her age. Flandre was childish at best, and at worst, terrifyingly out of control. For all the love and concern she held for her little sister, she would be the first to profess that subtlety was not an art the child was well versed in. The last time Flandre had a major outburst, she not only broke the door to her room down, but vaporized the basement up to the protective wards that kept her locked within the confines of the manor's depths; their library. Patchouli Knowledge, the resident youkai magician and her close friend, could not hold her back, not even with several of the legendary philosopher's stones at her disposal. The devastation had been epic, and if not for the thief-witch Marisa Kirisame, there might not have been a manor remaining. So, in short, to believe Flandre had just up and left quietly, she'd be more apt to believe that the flat broke Hakurei Shrine had come into wealth overnight.

While wealth had most certainly not occurred, the Hakurei Shrine in name had become a second cause for concern; rather, the priestess who was supposed to be maintaining it. Flandre's disappearance could just have easily been the start of an incident, whether she was taken, or whether the child decided to go play. The last time Remilia had sour dealings with Reimu, it had not ended well for her, so she hoped to parlay and avoid that this time. Now, though, the very priestess who chased down all manner of incidents and stifled them was missing as well.

"Milady, what should we do?" Sakuya Izayoi, the chief maid of her manor, asked from her side, bearing her parasol and providing shade from the sun. Sakuya was loyal as they came, and the human's looks well complimented her own; short silver hair sporting a braid on either side of her face by her ears, a traditional western maid uniform in shades of blue and white, short sleeved for the time of year, and black high heels. The one offset that marked her as much of her weapon as her maid was the silver knife on the garter strap at her thigh, and the chain of the pocket watch she used to incite her brief command over the flow of time. Yet now, even she bore open concern on her features, a disconcerting sight to say the least. "Perhaps we should stop by the Moriya shrine and seek their assistance?"

"Perhaps later," Remilia said, gazing down at the forest below as they soared over even its tallest trees. "With Reimu out of the picture, I'd rather keep Flandre's disappearance played as close to the chest as possible. This kind of thing would reflect poorly on the manor, that we can't even keep our own in check."

"If I may, Milady, if Lady Flandre begins to play her game before we find her, it would look worse."

"I'm aware of that, Sakuya, just..." She trailed off, closing her eyes and burying the frustration at her maid's logic. "Are you doubtful of my judgment?"

"Not at all, Milady," Sakuya returned flawlessly. "I apologize if I misspoke. My foremost concern is that the Scarlet Devil Manor retains its image of power, and that Lady Flandre is found unharmed. I apologize for my insolence."

"No, it's fine this time," Remilia said, the closest she would come to acknowledging Sakuya's point. Still, the Moriya priestess was... special, more than a bit of a space case and had demonstrated some incredibly black and white judgment on the matter of youkai. It wasn't that she feared her waging direct attack on her little sister; that was hardly the case. Rather, she feared what her two patron goddesses would do if Flandre simply blew her to chunky little bits.

They approached the Misty Lake after a time; a short while longer and they would be home. She'd have to concert the efforts of the household. Patchouli was already in the middle of scrying for her, using the most recent teddy bear that Flandre had been given, and shredded to bits of cloth and stuffing like all the others. Enough of her latent power should have remained in that to draw up some kind of results. If that didn't work, it would turn into a manhunt. She wasn't sure the fairy maids were competent enough to stray too far from the manor grounds without significant risk of being lost, maybe forever, but it was a small price to pay against finding her sister. Sakuya usually had to pick up their slack cleaning anyways. Meiling and Flandre got along well, she'd send her in the way of Marisa's house in the Forest of Magic. Wait, no, that was assuming Flandre even knew how to get there in the first place.

"Milady?"

Would it be a good idea for her to join the hunt as well? She wasn't sure if her sister at times resented her for locking her up, her presence might just as well drive her into hiding as promote a familiar face to come to help for.

"Lady Remilia."

Maybe the Moriya priestess wasn't such a bad idea after all. At least that kind of danmaku fight wouldn't be hard to miss.

"_Lady Remilia, watch out!"_

Remilia stopped as the alarm in Sakuya's voice pierced her thoughts, just in time to watch as a wall of icicles sprayed upward into the sky, actually tearing into the front of her dress from below. She looked below, her eyes narrowing as she saw a battle being waged between darkness and ice; she knew exactly who she was going to sink to the bottom of the lake for that the indignation she now felt, and began her descent proper.

After a moment, she and her maid were at level with the two whelps responsible. Cirno, an Ice Fairy as her six frosty, diamond-shaped wings marked her out as, was nursing her head. Short blue hair and a ribbon fluttered with her blue and white jumper dress, she was as simple of mind as she was of garb. Across from her, partly veiled in her own darkness, the youkai by the name of Rumia, a blonde child with a red ribbon fixed to one side of her head, with black vest, skirt and shoes, and white blouse and hose her own dress. The two were engaged in a game of danmaku, as she had previously noted, their simplistic spell patterns playing off against one another.

Remilia would have their attention from that. Flexing one hand and splaying her fingers out at her side, red energy crackled violently. In a roar of power, a crimson lance came to her hand, twice as long as she was tall. Gungnir was overkill for a direct attack on such children, but all she needed was to get their eyes. Casually rearing her arm back, she threw the lance ahead through the battlefield; the mere power of its passing was enough to wipe all of their danmaku out with a furious roar of power before her projectile crashed into the lake, erupting into a hellish red spire of energy and steam.

Cirno turned, incensed by the move, and flew right into Remilia's face.

"What'd ya do that for? I had her on the ropes!"

"Because insolent children need to be disciplined; should I spank you too?"

Cirno huffed indignantly, frost on her breath even in the midst of the warm weather. She held a fist up between them with a grin. "Challenging me? So if I win I get that ugly house on the lake, right?" Credit where it was due, for her insolence, she at least had half a brain more than most fairies. Half of a whole, however, was still pitiful.

"There is no if. What are you two doing, anyways?"

"Oh, we found something tasty looking on the shore," Rumia said, floating toward them casually, "but Cirno wants to freeze it instead, so we're seeing who wins to get it."

"What makes that so special worth fighting over, poorly, might I add?"

"It's got really funny looking hair," Rumia said plainly, "all the colors of a rainbow, and it has these blue wings that might be good for yakitori, but it looks pretty human otherwise."

This was going to get her nowhere, and Remilia didn't have time for prattle and speculation. Cocking her head towards the shore in a gesture to Sakuya, she turned and took off with haste, leaving the two in her wake over the water. She'd see for herself just what the two were fussing over. It took only a few seconds to cross over to the shore, where another fairy was, a taller one about Sakuya's size with long green hair cinched into a side ponytail, golden gilded wings, and a blue dress with white trim and sleeves. Daiyousei, she was called, famously responsible and the not-so-eager partner-in-crime of Cirno, despite their friendship. Where the wild child was, this tamer one could often be counted on being not too far off.

"What is going on here?" Remilia asked curtly, approaching the fairy girl. She jumped, startled, and turned her head.

"You're the vampire mistress of the manor on the lake," Daiyousei stated with some intimidation; already she was proving far smarter than the other one.

"And your friend's antics over something ruined my dress," she returned, gesturing to the tattered cloth before her ankles. "What's this rainbow headed thing those two simpletons are talking about?"

Daiyousei looked uncomfortable almost immediately, looking back and forth between Remilia and a body at her other side. It didn't take long to figure it out, and she walked forward, around the fairy to take a good look at this spectacle. She looked almost human, if not for the sky blue wings jutting out at the small of her back, splayed out over the muddy earth; well, one was sky blue at least, the other was charred badly, likely to the bone. Tucking her skirt against her legs, she crouched down, laying her fingers against the girl's throat.

"Aww," Rumia's voice came from behind, floating around them with arms splayed out at either side before she settled on the ground. "Guess I gotta get something else to eat."

"The match was gonna be mine!" Cirno bellowed, pointing defiantly to Remilia. "Why'd you have to come and spoil it like that?"

"Cirno, stop it!" Daiyousei wasted no time, turning to chastise her friend. "I already told you, no one's getting eaten or frozen! She should be taken to the human village, or Eientei, or, or somewhere she can get help!"

"Will you all shut up?" Remilia muttered, just the forwardness of her words bringing silence. Her red eyes took on a glow of power, before a light spark leapt from her fingers into the girl. She gasped, her body jerking before she opened her eyes, magenta hued, wide, and staring into the sky above. "Who are you?"

Her head turned, and Remilia could see the girl wasn't going to be conscious long. What a waste of time and effort, she ought have just left her to Rumia's belly and been done with it.

"The fox..." she rasped in pain, trying to turn over, but only seizing in pain and falling flat again. "That... nine tailed... where?"

_Nine tailed fox..._Remilia's eyes narrowed, as did the range of prospects for all things that could have happened. "What about a nine tailed fox? Tell me what you know."

"My friends... they... the, the damned fox...!"

"You, you were the only one we found," Daiyousei stammered uncomfortably. It became clear that those were not words the rainbow headed woman wanted to hear, as her frustration mounted visibly on her face. She was struggling as it was, and this would not make matters any easier.

"You spoke of a nine tailed fox, did it do this to you?" Remilia pressed on, trying to milk what she could from her while she was able.

"Doesn't... matter, my, my friends..." She coughed, pain clearly wracking every movement she made. "And... that crazy... blonde kid...!"

That struck a chord. Remilia reached down, lying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "What about this kid? Hey, I need you to stay with me here, this is important!"

There was little else to extract as the girl passed out once again. Remilia considered giving another shock to her nervous system, but in her condition, forcing her kind of power into this strange foreigner's could yield less than positive results. She stood up, extending her hand out to Sakuya. "My parasol."

"Milady?" Sakuya inquired, obeying the order.

"Sakuya, bring her, we're taking her back to the manor." Remilia turned, looking to the three around her. "Has she said anything of consequence to any of you?"

"Like she could say anything meaningful to the strongest of the fairies," Cirno boasted, a smug grin on her face and her hands on her hips. Remilia did her best to ignore her and looked instead to Daiyousei.

"I'm afraid not," she said, looking past Remilia and instead watching Sakuya lift the beaten girl from the ground. "This was the first I'd even heard her speak, Cirno found her initially.

_Well, then we know any valuable information there is lost._ Remilia sighed, nodding and lifting off the ground. "Very well then. We'll see to it that she's cared for and recovers." She turned, preparing to take off towards the manor, but stopped only a few feet out. Without turning, she spoke to the three. "And if you see Reimu Hakurei or hear anything about her, let her know Remilia Scarlet is looking for her or bring the news to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. We'll welcome you warmly." Leaving no time for them to respond, she took to the air proper, Sakuya soaring behind her with the young woman in tow.

"Milady, do you think there's a connection between these disappearances and this girl?"

"I find it strange that someone who I've never met and dresses so strangely appears the same day my sister and Reimu both disappear, yes." She glanced over her shoulder, eying the strange girl. "She spoke of a nine tailed fox as well. Tell me, Sakuya, how many nine tails do you know in Gensokyo?"

"I'm certain there are but only a handful," the chief maid responded, her expression growing serious. "However, one in particular comes to mind."

"Precisely. When we return, I want you and Meiling to bring this child to the library so Patchy can begin treatment of her more serious injuries. That done, the both of you will set out to gather information on recent goings on."

"What kind of information will we be seeking, Milady?"

"Anything out of the ordinary; strange natural phenomena, an increase in hostile youkai activity, distortions, spiriting aways, new arrivals, all of it, I want you to gather a comprehensive list and come home with it. This has all the tellings of an incident, and I have a hunch there's an old hag to blame for our troubles."

"As you wish, Lady Remilia, it will be done."

Remilia nodded, her eyes fixing on the large western estate coming into view on the horizon, idly twirling the parasol between her fingers. "Let's just hope that we're not too late to prevent something we'll all regret."


	4. Encounter

**My Little Illusion**

_Encounter_

Over the course of Princess Celestia's long-lived life, she bore witness to a great many terrible things. Although she had gone to great lengths to give the citizens of Equestria peace and tranquility, hers was but one kingdom of many in the world. The necessity of political bonds between nations had brought to her attention much of what other nations suffered; wars and strife, natural disasters, a world where the strong survived and the weak perished.

Princess Celestia had fought to prevent that with the natural talents of the ponyfolk beneath her rule. The weather was governed as such that, while still potentially dangerous, natural disasters were few and far between. The Sun and Moon were subject to the whims of the alicorn sisters, even while Luna was banished, and while she now lay in bed recovering from battle. Harvests and the progression of seasons were handled directly by the citizens, and what surprises that nature could provide were kept to an absolute minimum. Although no deity, many had come to worship her as such for her power and longevity. If it made them happy, however, she would abide to it; everything was for them, and as if they were her children, she wanted the best for them. Even if other kingdoms looked upon their efforts at the absolute control of the world around them as the peak of hubris, Celestia only saw the need to ensure that her people were safe and happy. It was the culmination of centuries of work.

All of that seemed to be unraveling rapidly now as she stood in the midst of what had been Appleloosa's town square. The last month had presented many trials of varying size to the Equestrian people, but this was by far the most devastating to date. In the mere moments since her arrival, she had already seen many buildings that had been splintered and ruined beyond repair. Craters and deep trenches lay scattered across the sun parched earth, and the stench of smoldering fires only adding to the visible gravity of the situation. Already, the royal guard had been spread out through the town, save the small personal escort that remained at her side, to seek evidence and aid the townsfolk.

She was grateful that the Appleloosans had their neighbors to assist them in their plight before her own arrival, however. The nearby tribe of those who had once been buffalo were present and in force, moving rubble and recovering victims from collapsed businesses and homes, helping the settlers to douse the flames that still burned throughout the town. The scene reminded her of a story she'd heard from Twilight some time ago, of a conflict over the division of the land land with these two peoples that had ended with compromise... and pie. Releasing a sigh, she only wished this could have ended so simply.

"Your Highness, thank you for coming," a man's voice spoke aside her. She turned her head, offering a sad smile to him. He was the lawman of the town, as the polished silver badge on his chest indicated clearly. That badge aside, he dressed no differently than many of the others in the town, with leather vest, cowboy hat and boots. She couldn't make out the expression set on his lips behind his thick mustache, but she could see the weariness settled deep in his eyes.

"It is my duty to see to the needs of my people, " she said, adjusting her grip upon her staff. "With a situation so grave, I was incensed to come myself and personally oversee in the investigation. I will do all in my power to see that Appleloosa is rebuilt in a timely manner, and the victims are tended to, Sheriff...?"

"Silverstar, Your Highness," he said. "We can't thank you enough for this."

"Can you please tell us what happened? Anything you know at all would be invaluable to our investigation."

He sighed, pulling his hat off and running a hand through a head of thick brown hair. "With all respect, Princess, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who couldn't. It was unlike anything we had ever seen. It was the dead of night, hardly a soul about. Next thing we knew, lights came raining down from the sky, all the colors you could imagine." He turned his head towards one home in particular, a grimace on his face. "The culprit was a child in all red, flying and raining down spells and fire all over the place. There didn't even seem to be a reason or pattern, it was just rampant chaos."

_A child who could fly and cast spells...?_ Her initial reaction was to consider all of the Alicorns in Equestria she was aware of. Their breed, bearing the best traits of both the Pegasi and Unicorns, excelled in both of those areas. However, she had not forgotten about their intruders from the land called Gensokyo, either. Her expression grew dire as she considered the repercussions, just what it could mean if this were the game that Yukari had spoken of.

"What happened after that?"

"Naturally, we tried to run her out of town. We coaxed her to the ground easy enough... Shoot, she was _eager_ to come down, said we were her playmates or something like that. But when we tried to get close..." He cast a long gaze to the side, his pride seeming to be where the worst of the damage was personally. "We didn't have a chance. She batted our railroad workers away like ragdolls. Our only saving grace was you raising the sun, Your Highness."

"The sun?" she asked, puzzled.

"She started to lose her footing in the chaos, seemed weaker by it. She was still vicious, but we were able to get a couple good shots in before she fled."

"I'm pleased to hear you were able to defend yourselves."

Sheriff Silverstar sighed, placing his hat back atop his head. "To be honest, I don't think what we hit her with mattered much at all. Some of our engineers nailed her with their tools even, but she just kept getting back up. It was like tryin' to take on a bear with a stick." He looked the princess in the eyes, wearing a look of deep concern. "Just be careful if you turn her up, Princess Celestia. In all my years I've never seen anything like her, I worry she may be trouble even for you."

She nodded, taking his words to heart. She had no reason to doubt him, it was indeed sounding exactly like what she feared. The game had begun then, and she had yet to deliver the Elements of Harmony to her student and her friends. She had to make up for lost time.

"Were there casualties?"

The sheriff paused, looking back over the wreckage in silence, before looking back to Celestia, a mix of relief and disbelieving in his eyes.

"You may not believe it, Your Highness, but-"

"Sheriff!"

The princess' head turned at the call, gazing upon a girl dressed in brown leathers. A painted headband with two eagle pinfeathers jutting up at the back was tied over her forehead, where curly, short dirty blonde hair bounced with every swift step she took. She was slight of frame, her flesh a tanned red shade, and eyes gray as soot. The child cast the princess a curious look, before looking back to the sheriff.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked. The sheriff offered an awkward smile.

"Ah, we were just wrapping up. Little Strongheart, this is Princess Celestia."

She looked to the princess, who only smiled warmly in return. Little Strongheart returned the look, albeit uneasily and in haste. "It's a pleasure. I don't mean any disrespect, but, this is important." The princess could have sworn by expression on the sheriff's face that he thought her guards would put the child in chains for her hasty disregard of her person. The princess cared little, intrigued instead as to what could be so important during such strife. With a light wave of her hand, she bade them to continue.

"W, what is it?" he asked, recollecting his faculties.

"We've found the child you described," she said flatly. "Chief Thunderhooves and a few men from our tribe located her in one of the ruined homes at the edge of town. You described her with strange, black and bejeweled wings?"

Sheriff Silverstar caught his second wind almost immediately. He nodded, adjusting his hat before looking to the princess. "I apologize for the abruptness, but I have to go handle this, Your Highness."

"Wait," she said, causing the two's brows to rise. "I'll come with you. Judging by your report, this sounds vaguely similar to something I've encountered before. If it's as you say, you will require my aid."

The sheriff looked as tense about the idea as Celestia's guards did, though neither of the latter spoke their protest. Instead, he nodded and started off, let by Little Strongheart. The princess of the sun and her escort followed suit, fingers wrapped tightly around her staff in anticipation. During their walk, Celestia and Silverstar spoke of the logistics of the predicament; she gleaned just what supplies and aid would be required to help the Appleloosans rebuild, and what they needed to help those victims of the onslaught recover. There would be much she would have to commit from Canterlot, but the wellbeing of her subjects was always first priority.

Their discussion ground to a halt as Little Strongheart's steps did, the remains of a large home right at the edge of the settler's town looming before them. The roof had collapsed in on itself in several places, and the walls sagged from the fallen weight, creating a veritable death trap for anyone who carelessly wandered in. Several others of the girl's tribe stood around, strong built men dressed in a similar fashion of leathers. Though they wielded no weapons, their broad frames gave the impression that they were formidable in their own right.

"And you're sure she's in here, Little Strongheart?" Sheriff Silverstar asked as their small party drew to a halt.

"Asleep, no less," the child assured, gazing at the house. "Chief Thunderhooves is inside with two of the most exceptional members of our tribe, keeping watch."

"Stay out here, then," she more ordered than requested, beginning to approach the home. "All of you."

"But," one of her guards began, "Your Highness, you shouldn't-"

"I will be fine," she said, doing her best to reassure the group as she stopped before the broken house. "What I'll need of you is to escort the sheriff and Little Strongheart away if things should go badly, and see that the town is protected. I'm entrusting their lives to you."

The guard said no more, offering a solemn salute in recognition of her order. Celestia smiled, and pressed on. Already tall as she was, she bent down somewhat to pass through the sagging front door and into the house. The within looked no better than without, much of the house scorched black as if there had been explosions, sunlight bleeding in through the pockmarked roof and walls. Almost nothing in the home seemed salvageable, and the interior damage emphasized just how it threatened collapse. Treading lightly, she made her way along the most negotiable path in the house to seek their subject.

It didn't take long, a few moments at best of peeking into rooms before she came across what looked like a nursery, or whatever remained of it. A crib and small bed were ruined within, scorched much like everything else, toys and small clothes strewn over the floor in every direction. Within stood three men, their bodies well defined by lean muscle, dressed similarly to those outside. The eldest among them, the chief, turned first, beholding the princess with a warm smile.

"It has been many years, Princess," Chief Thunderhooves said in a hushed, welcoming tone. He was older than much of the rest of his tribe, lines of gray starkly contrasting his otherwise ash black hair, and a brow wrinkled from years of responsibility, and likewise, stress, that came with his position. He was, however, still of his large, powerful frame, one that dwarfed even several of his people outside. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"I wish it were under better circumstances, Chief Thunderhooves," she returned with warm regret. "It is good to see you're well, at the very least." She gazed beyond him, to a shaded corner behind a scorched bed, beholding the subject of his attention prior to her arrival. "I would assume..."

The chief nodded, turning back. "We had members of the tribe staying in town overnight, working out trade negotiations. They described a strange child with bejeweled wings and golden hair. We've been trying to think of how to approach her without rousing her before she's been restrained."

She shook her head, studying the girl. The child was fast asleep, slouched against the corner, but the solar princess felt pin prickles along the back of her neck studying her. The iron-wrought rod clutched in one hand in particular caught her eye. It alone bled latent magical power. The tool itself may well have been what was responsible for the devastation, however...

Movement. The child stirred, a soft mewl audible as she twisted in her spot. The princess stepped forward, taking point before the Buffalo tribesmen, drawing the attention of the little girl in full. The child gazed wearily upon the ruler, her expression twisting to one of disdain and impatience.

"You're not my big sister," the blonde girl murmured. "I want my big sister."

Celestia's head turned to the chief. He only offered a shrug of his broad shoulders, as lost on the mention as she was. Returning her attention to the little girl, she stepped forward, adjusting the skirts of her gown and kneeling down, staff leant into her shoulder.

"Young lady," she said softly, "I don't know who your sister is, but I'm willing to help you find her. However, I need you to answer some questions for me, first." It was still so hard to believe a child alone was responsible for the devastation of Appleloosa. Confirmation would come first. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," she murmured curtly.

"My name is Princess Celestia," she said with warmth and patience. "I am one of the rulers of this land, of Equestria. What's your name?"

"Flandre Scarlet," she said, leaning her head back into the nook of the wall.

"Flandre," Celestia continued, her tone growing more serious. "Can you tell me what happened last night? Many of the people of the town we're in right now are homeless, several more hurt. I had heard you were there."

Flandre nodded, bringing her rod up to her chest. Celestia nodded in acknowledgement of the silent response.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I played with them," Flandre stated matter-of-factly. She began to twirl her fingers, twisting the rod, though it neither creaked nor groaned with exertion. It was pliable between her fingers as if string, and she looked upon it with dull interest.

"... Played?" Celestia pursued the question, hesitance creeping into her tone.

"They weren't much fun. A few broke really quickly, and people were just running away. No one knew how to play right, so I started to break more."

Celestia felt a chill.

"No one likes danmaku here, and no one wants to play with me." Impatience was potent in her tone, but so was a hint of sorrow. "Whenever someone does, they don't last long at all. I'm tired of it, and I want to go home. It's boring, and I want to eat Sakuya's cooking. I want to see my big sister, and play with Meiling..." The further she got, the more emotional her voice became. Finally, she lowered her head, and hugged her legs close against her chest.

The princess was at a loss on just how to deal with what was before her. Flandre was under no circumstances a normal child, nor assailant. She awkwardly straddled the two roles, and the princess could not decide whether she understood the full gravity of her actions, or if she simply didn't care. In the end though, the girl was responsible for the obliteration of a frontier town and terrorizing its people. No matter what drove her, she could not simply be let alone to do what she pleased. The response would have to be balanced, handled with the utmost care, especially if it were to end with benefit to their ever troublesome situation.

"I have a sister of my own," Celestia said softly, her eyes trained upon the child. "She's very dear to me. For a long time, I'd thought that I had lost her, as I'm certain yours must share the same concern." Reaching a hand out, she put on a gentle smile for the little girl. "How about you come with me, and we'll find your home together?"

Flandre peeked up from past her knees, gazing into Celestia's eyes. A look of innocence and caution took her off guard, but she maintained her composure, remaining quiet and still. Finally, the child leaned forward, pressing one knee on the floor as she took Celestia's hand. With a soft nod, the solar princess rose, guiding the girl to her feet.

"I don't want to go outside, though," Flandre said, looking toward a wrecked window at the sun-parched land beyond the ruined home. "It'll hurt."

"I don't think that will hardly be the case," Celestia said in her most reassuring tone. Flandre looked up at her with a peculiar gaze, before releasing her hand and walking to where a patch of sunlight bled through the wall. As if to prove a point the princess could not see, she raised her hand into it.

A stench filled the air, of burning flesh, and before long, patches of the child's skin began to smoke. The princess gaped, watching the child casually retract her hand. She seemed largely unharmed, save some red, burned patches on her porcelain flesh, and those even faded with rapidity that left the princess speechless. Again, she gazed outside, walking until she could see her guards, the tribesmen and sheriff outside. None seemed to suffer from what Flandre had, this was not a matter of her handling the sun's position above.

"My big sister says we're luckier than others like us 'cause we're stronger. They just die. It's still annoying though." Flandre turned, looking up, her expression calm and collected as if nothing had happened at all.

_Special case indeed..._ Celestia thought, her eyes fixated on the child as she approached once again. _I'll have to take as much care of having her returned to Canterlot unharmed as I will arriving in such a way myself._ Offering a nod in response to Flandre's statement, she looked to the chief. "Chief Thunderhooves, could I ask your braves to escort her out to my guard, perhaps find something to conceal her from the light outside?" She could see the reservation in the old chief's eyes as he looked upon the child, but nodded. The two leaders watched, after some reassurance from Celestia to Flandre regarding the men, before they left the nursery.

"I do not think this is wise, Princess," the chief said once she was beyond earshot, his arms folded over his broad chest and brow set low in thought. "That child has wicked destructive power. It chills me to my bones, and I am not gifted in the realm of magic as you."

"I am well aware," Celestia said, clutching her staff close to her shoulder. "But I have more than a little suspicion of her link to the true cause of our current forms. Under our care in Canterlot, we may be able to get some answers, as well as keep anymore tragedies like this from coming to fruition."

"You speak the truth," he grunted, beginning to walk astride of her. "I am simply concerned whether you can keep her under control for such a trip... or even within the confines of your own kingdom. Unkempt, that child could reduce Canterlot and your entire royal guard to ash." The two of them paused at the threshold of the home, exchanging long gazes. "Princess Celestia, this old bull only urges you the utmost caution. Do not let the fact that she's a child leave your defenses open. Tread lightly."

The princess gave the first sincere smile of the already long morning, reaching out and setting a gentle hand on the shoulder of the chief. Even though she had centuries lived against his few decades, his wisdom was hard earned and sincere.

"I will not fail my kingdom, or my subjects. I will keep your counsel close to my heart, Chief." He seemed sated by her answer, and gave a slow nod. "Now, let's be off. Our day has only just begun, and there are still considerable trials on the horizon."

* * *

><p>"Are ya gonna be alright, Big Macintosh?" Applebloom asked, concern evident for her older brother as she stood by the armchair in the living room, offering him a tall glass of icewater and a washcloth.<p>

In favor of even a single word, he offered a weary nod of affirmation. He took both drink and cloth, emptying the glass in a few deep gulps, before pressing the damp towel against his brow. Looking across the room, he gazed at their newest guests, currently toweling themselves off from the relentless storm outside.

"You're pretty tough, big guy," Yuugi said, wiping back behind one of her pointed ears with a grin. "That thing had some swing to it, and there you go playing hero; though I suppose it was really our fault to begin with." The oni turned her head to Applejack and Twilight, the latter of which was busy drying them both with a spell that lifted the water from their bodies in vapor. "Sorry about that."

"Yer fine, not like ya figured we'd be runnin' about out there," Applejack said, tone low and attention on her soaked hat.

"Though that takes me back to the question before all this," Twilight said, lowering her own wand before looking aside to the two newest guests to the household, "what were you doing out there... Yuugi, and Suika? Fighting a hydra no less... and winning?"

"Bored," Suika chimed in from where she sat by the fire, scratching Winona between the ears with a gentleness that betrayed the true strength that Applejack had seen on display in the field. The nonchalant tone of her answer seemed to irk Twilight, the gravity of the situation considered.

"Well, she's not wrong," Yuugi offered. "We wound up in that forest and were left to wander. Ran into some interesting creatures, but nothing really worth getting worked up over until that."

"Like those mutts made out of wood that tried to take my gourd."

"Or the lion with the stinger and wings."

"That three-headed dog in the cave was neat."

The two continued to check off creatures in the Everfree Forest that they had encountered, several Applejack recalled and named properly in her mind from personal experience with. Somewhat disarmed by how nonchalantly the two went on with their discussion, the farm girl turned her eyes to her bookish ally.

"Am Ah imaginin' this, or've they encountered jes' about ev'ry critter in that haunted wood?"

"They're so... easygoing about it too, like it's nothing unusual." The violet-haired girl looked to Applejack, profound disbelief and frustration in her face. "Cerberus for Celestia's sake, they encountered _Cerberus!_"

"Well, either way," Yuugi said, drawing the two's girls attention back to her, "the fact is we were wandering since late last night, and stumbled across that overgrown lizard. After it tried to make a meal of us, we thought we'd have some fun."

"Y'all got a funny way of havin' fun," Applebloom said, staring curiously at them. "That musta been some powerful magic ya used though." The statement clearly puzzled Yuugi. "Yer a unicorn, right?

"What makes you say that, kid?"

Applebloom pointed to her forehead in a mock comparison to Yuugi's own. "Ya got yer horn still. How'd ya manage that anyway?"

The tall oni paused, staring long at Applebloom before pointing to the child curiously, and gazing toward her elder sister. Clearly, this would require an honest explanation.

"Y'all ain't from these parts, Ah can tell clear as one a Luna's starry nights," Applejack said, shaking her hat out a little before hanging it back on its hook. "Truth told, we all used ta be ponies of one kind or another 'fore some meddlin' by some hole witch."

"Gap," Twilight corrected, much to Applejack's irritation.

"Wutever it was, Ah don't much care for it or her." The shorter blonde's arms crossed, her brow creased in a frown. "Twilight was a unicorn, one of the magic usin' folk of Equestria. Frankly, the kinda grit ya showed out there, if ya were one Ah'd figure ya fer an earth pony. But that'n a two-bit coin now'll get ya squat at any rate." Gazing upon Suika and Yuugi once more, she took notice to the curious expressions on each of their faces. Eyebrow cocked, Applejack turned to face them in full. "Wut?"

"So you know Yukari already then," Suika said, raising her gourd, holding it just before her lips.

Applejack tensed a bit, her eyes narrowing. Clearly, her feelings were being projected well, and Suika made a gesture with her free hand.

"Whoa, whoa, relax. If we wanted trouble we'd have let that thing flatten the big guy. Yukari just told us a couple of things and sent us on our way here."

"Why did she send you here though?" Twilight asked, stepping forward. "That woman's only caused Equestria grief since she started this game of hers."

"Y'all said ya got here last night too, right?" Applejack stepped forward, clearly a bit heated, though she kept herself under control as she halted a few feet from Yuugi. "Our friends went missin' last night. How d'we know ya ain't got anythin' ta do with that?"

"You mean aside from our word as oni?" Yuugi looked around a moment, undaunted by Applejack's approach. She walked toward a small table by the door, picking her empty sakazuki up from it. "You don't, I suppose." She began back toward Suika, spinning the dish on the tip of her index finger as she strode over the floorboards. "We're random strangers in a world as unknown to us as we are to you, who know about the gap youkai that's apparently causing you grief. Though, being humans over ponies, I'd think that were an improvement." She leaned down, holding her dish out as Suika tipped the gourd, filling it.

"So y'all think yer better than the ponyfolk of Equestria, is that it?" Applejack's eyes narrowed, her fists clenched at her sides.

"I think having thumbs has an advantage," Yuugi said, wearing an easy smile as she displayed simply holding the dish in the nook of her hand and thumb. "But I'm not trying to sound arrogant. I mean, unless you and your brother want to try and whip Suika and I in a fight. Then you're just out of luck. Sorry."

Applejack bit her lip, but kept herself in check. The oni was frank as they came, but that was all she was. Except for the last part, there she was frank and completely right. Big Macintosh and she were strong in their own right, but what the two visiting demonstrated out there put their power to shame.

"Look, you seem like you've had it rough," Suika said as she tipped her gourd back, taking a few deep drinks of the contents before pulling away with a gasp. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she rolled up to her feet. "Yuugi'n me just want some booze and a good time. How 'bout once this storm lets up, we go take you around, help you ease your mind?"

"Not that Ah don't appreciate the thought," Applejack said, her tone rigid and distant, "but Ah'm not one fer getting' stone cold drunk when there's work ta be done."

"So don't drink," Yuugi said, "just relax with us."

Applejack grew tense and quiet, instead diverting her eyes to the door. She had been raised to be a well-mannered young mare... lady, now, but she had little more than ill feelings toward their guests with the adrenaline died down. That wasn't even accounting for that they were responsible for the hydra's presence beyond the Everfree's borders to begin with...

"Applejack," Twilight interrupted her thoughts, gently grabbing her by the wrist, "can I speak with you privately for a moment?"

The farm girl's head turned to Twilight, acknowledging her request with a nod. Quietly, she followed her back toward the kitchen. As Applejack entered after her, the door swung shut and locked, the familiar hum of magical energy ringing in her ears for the instant the action took.

"I think we should take them up on their offer," Twilight said frankly, walking toward the sink.

"Beg yer pardon?"

"Applejack, it's as plain as day that those two are from the same world that Yukari is." Twilight stopped, leaning her hands on the sink and gazing out the window that sat over it as thunder rumbled in the distance. "You don't just get all this crazy stuff happening all at once without some reason... Unless Discord's about, I mean. Maybe there's something we can learn from them; something about the real motives behind this entire game, or how to stop it from progressing any further."

"Bein' that kinda company with 'em, though, ya can't be serious?" Applejack stuck a hand to her hip, her frown now deep set. "Ya figure they're jes' gonna turn over information like that? They're drunkards, an' monsters on top'a that. Ya saw how strong they are. Ah doubt we're gunna get jack squat."

"So what do you suggest we do, just send them on their way?" Twilight said, her tone pointed. "If they really _are_ threats, just, turn them loose on Ponyville?"

"Certainly not," Applejack said with some clear irritation in her voice, "but Ah don't think it's smart ta try'n be chummy with these ones. That gap woman's all smiles and take a look'it her. Now Rarity'n the others are missin' and we got nothin' ta go offa ta find 'em."

"Oh, right," Twilight said in her most deadpan tone, "I suppose this makes Pinkie a prime suspect, too."

"Don't you start twistin' mah words, Twilight," Applejack said, jabbing a finger at Twilight, her gaze more disgruntled than before. "Ah'm only lookin' out fer wut's best fer all of us. All that'll come of messin' with these... these oni'll be someone else getting' hurt. Ah've seen enougha that with mah friends fer now."

"They saved you and Big Macintosh both." Twilight retorted, her defense of the two taking Applejack off guard. "So they're rough around the edges and say they like to drink, have you forgotten about Rainbow Dash during your cider season? You can't blame them for whatever it was that happened last night just because they were pulled in on Yukari's game."

"Ah can't even believe we're havin' this conversation!" Applejack's hand came down hard on the counter, rattling several dishes stacked by the sink. "They're monsters! If it weren't fer this nonsense, we'd all still be ponies, goin' about our business! Rarity wouldn't be missin' with Fluttershy an' RD, and ya wouldn't be sportin' those bandages neither!" Applejack seemed to quiet down a bit, a hand setting on her hip as her fingers pushed through her bangs. "We don't know if we'll ever even see 'em again... They could be missin', or..." Applejack couldn't bring herself to say the word, but she could see the grave implications were evident just by her tone of voice. Twilight stepped forward, her expression determined, but mollified of anger, instead replaced with understanding.

"We'll find them," Twilight said. There was no question, simply an absolute belief. "Look... I'm sorry, we shouldn't be fighting like this. We've been through a lot in just a couple of days, and we're both already feeling it. Our friends will be fine though, and we'll find them. They're resourceful, and smart, and talented, and they'll make it work out where ever they are. But to find them, we need a lead. If those two have it, then we have to try, alright? I... I don't think they're out here to hurt us, at least, I hope not. But we won't get anywhere if we just start butting heads right out the gate. We have to try and appeal to their good sides." The two stood silent, staring at one another for a moment. The question hung in the air, heavier than one would have expected it to.

"And wut if it doesn't work?"

Twilight smiled, though with some worry in her eyes.

"We'll figure something out."

* * *

><p>Tewi Inaba strolled quietly down one of the myriad of paths stretching throughout the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, a place that lived well up to its namesake for those who were ignorant of its nature. The forest was home to the residence of a certain lunar princess and her house, comprised of doctor, an ex-soldier and many, many youkai rabbits like herself. What made her distinct among them was simple; she was the leader. It made the ability to traipse off on her own whenever she wanted quite easy.<p>

Still, as almost all youkai rabbits at her stage of development wore the same pink dress around the Hourai household, Eientei, distinction could be a messy process. There were then two things that set her apart, never mind personal features such as her short-cropped black hair or red eyes. The carrot pendant around her neck was first, simply something she liked and was easily recognizable. The second would oft times be the attention of the lunar rabbit, Reisen, who in spite of being her friend, seemed to have no luck to speak of. Of course, with pranks and passing of the proverbial buck, the little rabbit may have had more to do with that than most.

_The princess hasn't gone to fight Mokou for a while,_ Tewi thought, arms swaying at her sides as she hopped up onto a large stone aside the path, landing gracefully on her bare feet. _Though with these disappearances, I guess the phoenix is watching out for the teacher she's so fond of._ Indeed, the word of the new incident spread quickly. It was one thing for the moon to go missing, or a saint to be raised from the dead, but for all from humans to powerful youkai to disappear all around Gensokyo? Certainly there was a great power behind it. Perhaps the panic wouldn't have been so great if only the day before the news break, Reimu Hakurei had not up and vanished.

Indeed, there was alarm throughout Gensokyo over that most disturbing development. The Great Hakurei Barrier was maintained by the priestess who bore its namesake, and all of her predecessors. Tewi had been younger then, but she recalled seeing Reimu's mother back before spell card rules had been implemented. She was a woman who instilled confidence in those who were her allies, and fear in those who were her enemies, as opposed to her daughter. While certainly not to be trifled with, she was lethargic and lazy about her duties on more than a few occasions. To have run away though, or been taken unawares? The fortunate rabbit had a hard time believing that. Then there were the consequences, what would happen to Gensokyo if the barrier fell...

_Oh well. I suppose if the world has to end, I might as well relax._ Results were all speculation, but the disappearance of Gensokyo and all its residents were a favored one. Nothing had happened yet, though. Maybe the bloodline was just a bunch of bogus old myths passed down to keep the youkai in line.

Before she could consider history and current events any further, Tewi halted. Her rabbit ears perked up as she heard breathing, shallow and soft. Was someone sleeping on the path? Glancing around, she pinpointed the source direction and pushed through the towering shafts of bamboo, into the thick of the wood line. She continued on, mindful of her footing, for a few moments, the sounds drawing nearer with every step.

"Hey, someone out here?" she called, pushing a shoot aside as it bounced into her face. She looked around, pausing as she spied something in shades of pink and yellow. Was it some kind of animal? She drove ahead, shifting course toward it. "Hey there, can you hear me? Are you alright?" No response, but it was breathing. She'd get a better look at it and make a judgment as soon as she was upon it.

A squeal tore through the air, and something lunged at her. Sidestepping, she pulled a bamboo shoot back where it came for her head, and released, smacking the thing with it and knocking it away. She was undaunted by the assault, but more curious than before for certain. She got a good look at her assailant as it rolled to a halt over the grass and leaves on the ground; a rabbit.

"Wow, really?" Tewi was taken aback by the sheer audacity of the little creature. It did look a little different than the normal rabbit at its stage, but clearly had the makings of a youkai. Perhaps one that could, given several centuries, be a good student to her. Still, now was not the time as it lunged at her again, teeth bared. Undeterred, Tewi reached out and grabbed the little rabbit by its ears.

A series of rapid noises spewed from the rabbit's mouth. Tewi reached forward, jabbing it... him, on his little pink nose.

"Okay, buddy, listen, I'm the boss around here, got it? I don't know how that hasn't gotten down to you yet, but that's how it works in this part of Gensokyo. If you got a problem, then-"

She was cut off by more of the squalling noises, now pausing and listening.

"You're not from this forest?"

Tewi's eyebrows piqued as he spoke more.

"Not from _Gensokyo_? Have you been getting into someone's poppies?" Her skepticism was not greeted warmly. She sighed, setting a hand on her hip. This was sounding like some brainless prattling from a sharp-tongued little punk. As it continued though, she grew more intrigued.

"A fox... a nine tails no less. And..." Tewi grinned a little bit, cupping her chin thoughtfully. "Well, this does change everything. Sounds like you guys have crossed a pretty nasty old hag." Tewi set the rabbit down, giving it a soft pat between the ears before approaching the prone figure on the ground. Crouching, she rolled it over onto its back. Indeed, it was a winged woman, out like a light on the forest floor. Pink haired and with large, yellow-feathered wings that wrapped around her almost protectively. She looked timid, even asleep as she was.

"You said your name was Angel?" Tewi stood, turning and walking back toward the path. "I'll be back soon with a few extra hands. Your friend looks a little heavy for me, but we'll get you both taken care of."

Unsure chittering caught Tewi's ear, and she looked back over her shoulder, thumbing to herself with a sure grin. "You're one of us, local or not. I'll take care of you, and your pet."

As she promised, it was no time at all before she'd returned with help; she could be audacious, uncooperative, sneaky and downright cruel at her worst, but she had to watch out for her own kind. Several other rabbits had been pulled from their duties around the household and come to help, carrying the one Angel identified as 'Fluttershy' back in a wheeled cart. The name was strange on her lips, but she would leave it alone. For now, she had more questions as to what kind of youkai she was. After all, no human had any kind of features like those. Perhaps Mystia Lorelei had an idea, maybe a distant cousin of the night sparrow family.

Angel, perched upon her shoulder, chittered as they entered a massive clearing in the woods.

"Yeah, that's home. We have doctor who can take a look at your friend."

"Tewi!"

Tewi sighed, recognizing the voice, sounding distraught. "Though we'll have to deal with her underling first it sounds like."

Another rabbit eared girl ran from the house, a look of alarm on her face. Reisen Udongein Inaba looked to be having another haggard day, for what reasons, Tewi was certain she would learn in just a moment. The rabbit ears and red eyes, however, were where the likenesses stopped between the two of them. Reisen was a once and a half taller than Tewi, or any of the other earth rabbits, had long, lavender colored hair, and dressed in a white blouse and red tie, pink miniskirt, black thigh highs and brown loafers. Even her ears were accentuated with some kind of button-like piercings at the bases. She looked more like she belonged at the Scarlet household on the lake than in Eientei.

Though then, Reisen was the only rabbit from the moon in Eientei, so there were bound to be differences.

"Tewi, there you are!" Reisen was breathing hard, as if she'd been exerting herself for quite some time. Sweat slicked her brow and her tie had been loosened, her cheeks flush with color. "Where've you been? And with all these others for that matter?"

"I had some cargo to get," Tewi said flatly, gesturing over her shoulder to the wooden cart being pulled by other rabbits. Reisen looked over, staring curiously at the contents.

"Who's that?"

"Couldn't tell you, she's this guy's friend." She cocked her head slightly toward Angel on her shoulder. "Where's Eirin?"

That seemed to bring Reisen back into her state of alarm. "We've got to go, _now._"

"Reisen, what're you going on abo-Hey!" Tewi was startled as Reisen actually grabbed her by the wrist and took off, almost pulling her off her feet. "Hey, what's the big idea?!"

"Let the others handle her, we've got more important business!"

"Wh, what're you so worked up about?! Hey, _cut it OUT!"_ Tewi yanked her arm back, digging her feet into the ground. This was off; Reisen was never so excitable that she would actually physically drag Tewi anywhere. At times, even, she flat out avoided the earth rabbit for several pranks she'd pull, not desiring to suffer the consequences. "What's gotten into you? You act like the priestess is knocking at our door again!"

She wondered what Reisen would have thought if the taller rabbit could herself as Tewi's words drained color from her face. However, she turned, whipping around and hurrying off toward the home. "I wish she were, but we've got bigger problems than that!"

Tewi grimaced. Bigger problems than the Hakurei shrine maiden at their doorstep? Had they done something to anger the gods themselves? At their worst they'd only hidden the true moon from Gensokyo to disrupt the mission of several lunar emissaries. Certainly, if that hadn't brought anything down on their heads aside from the shrine maiden and her allies, they hadn't done anything that would. What could possibly elicit this kind of reaction from Reisen? Tewi found that the only prudent thing to do was to follow.

"Take care of that girl and show Angel some hospitality, I'm going to see what's up." Tewi took off, following after the lunar rabbit with haste.

The two wound through Eientei's halls, neither saying a word to the other, though Tewi wished Reisen would have divulged more information. Still, she surmised she would find out exactly what troubled her. Not helping the situation was the fact that Reisen was so bothered by the situation. Prior to becoming a refugee of the Lunar War a little over four decades ago, she was a member of the Lunar Defense Corps. Tewi presumed that, as a trained soldier, Reisen had a more resilient constitution than most others. To top it all off, she was perhaps the most levelheaded of the residents of Eientei, and largely kept to herself where things related to work or her mentorship beneath Eirin didn't apply. It was a part of the reason, perhaps, why Tewi harassed her now and then with her pranks.

"We have a serious problem, Tewi," Reisen said, her voice low. She came to a halt looked around over her shoulder, ears twitching as she listened for any kind of movement. "We have to keep this to ourselves though. If Master finds out about this, it'll be both our tails..."

"What're you going on about?" Tewi was growing impatient, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. Already there was little patience for this running around, and that was wearing thin rapidly.

Reisen paused, as if the words were caught in her throat. Sucking in a breath, she tried her best to compose herself.

"The princess is missing."

Tewi was fairly certain that she must have had bamboo leaves wedged in her ears, because what she heard could not, under any circumstances, been correct. "Excuse me," Tewi muttered, dumbstruck, "what?"

"I've looked everywhere, Tewi, but Princess Kaguya is _gone_."

Now the alarm bells were ringing in her head.

"What happened?!"

"I don't know," Reisen said, fighting to keep her composure against Tewi's own growing sense of distress. "I just went into her room to bring her a meal and she was gone. At first I'd thought that she had left to the toilet or something, but when I looked around and checked, I couldn't find her at all. She's nowhere, I've looked high and low, and she never just leaves on her own!" Reisen clutched her head, taking a few deep breaths.

"Eirin, where's Eirin? Why doesn't she know?"

"She left not too long after you ditched out on your walk, she has a patient in the Forest of Magic." Reisen's arms dropped, and she looked to Tewi. "We have to find out what happened. If Master gets back and the princess isn't here, we're going to be the ones who pay for not protecting her."

"W, wait, why do I have to get wrapped up in this?" Tewi was indignant as this point was brought up, thrusting an accusatory finger in the lavender haired girl's direction. "You're responsible for her safety more than I am, I lead the local rabbits in helping out around here! Why do I get to be the one wrapped up in this?!"

"Because this happened while you pranced out on a walk!" She pointed back at Tewi in the same manner. "And I'd certainly like to see you explain that unconscious girl you brought here on top of that instead of being here supervising the other rabbits!"

"They can handle menial labor without me overlooking their every move! They aren't fairies, you know! And you're her _pet_!"

"That still doesn't mean you, or any of them, couldn't have seen something, but only if you were here!"

Before she knew it, her nose pressed against Reisen's. The two were unusually heated, but the situation considered, even she made sense why. Snapping back and away, she folded her arms across her chest, grunting in frustration. "So... what do we do about it?"

There was a long silence between the two rabbits, gazing off in opposing directions of each other. No pranks, no banter, just a stern silence.

"I guess," Tewi muttered, "we at least don't have to worry about it being anyone from the moon. It's still daylight."

"Yeah," Reisen mumbled in agreement.

"You don't have to twist my arm like that, you know," Tewi said, turning on the balls of her feet and beginning to walk away. "I'm going to see about our guest, then I'll join you. Just... I don't know, find something we can go off of. Eirin'll skin us if Kaguya's not back before she is."

"Yeah... thanks, Tewi."

Tewi said nothing, but waved over her shoulder as she rounded the corner.

* * *

><p>Princess Luna walked the halls of the castle in silence. The late afternoon sun's light pervaded through every window, washing everything in a fiery shade of yellow-orange. This would have normally been the point where she prepared for her evening ritual of raising the celestial body with whom she shared a name, and the stars aside. Instead, gazing out over the expanse of Canterlot, she was reminded yet again how incapable she had been of the fact. The battle against the fox and cat a month ago had taken its toll.<p>

Although mostly recovered, two vital components to the management of the moon were still in mending. For one, her left wing, broken in two places after her high velocity impact into the earth, was wrapped and folded up at her back aside its healthy twin. Alongside, her horn... rather, her staff tipped with the instrument, had deep fissures run into it. Nothing but time would mend those wounds. Perhaps, if not for her impatience on the matter a few weeks back, she'd already have been healed. To her personal credit, she successfully performed her duties in little more than a few days after she had been rescued by her sister and Twilight Sparkle's companions. The moon and stars were beautiful that night when she next raised them.

However, the strain had left her weak, and if not for the two of the Nights Guard who tended to her during the ritual, she'd have plummeted again, perhaps with more devastating consequences. Celestia scolded her quite badly for that, and forbade her from acting again until she was fully healed. Equal standing or no as royalty, her big sister still managed to flex her authority where it counted. Luna was, for all intents and purposes, grounded from her duties.

The walks she took were all that kept the tedium of the day from otherwise getting to her. Her workload had been dramatically decreased, Celestia either taking responsibilities from her or delegating them out to allow her more time to rest. Luna, however, felt that a thousand years on the moon, regardless of the reason, was more than enough time to sit on her haunches. She sorely wanted to get back to her duties, to continue immersing herself in, what to her, was the new Equestria, to handle the business in the night courts and meet with the people and their leaders. Instead, she was little more than an injured captive of the great halls of Canterlot Castle. Perhaps it was the impertinence of being the younger sister, but she wanted something to _do._

"There you are, Your Highness."

Luna's head turned, beholding one of her Nights Guard, a dark-skinned young man with midnight blue hair and eyes of a lighter hue to match. He dressed in the dark steel armor set of her own caste of guards, and she smiled in warm recognition of his face.

"Wind Seeker, it is good to see you again." She watched the soldier salute smartly, an action she dismissed with a wave as she approached. "This is your first day on duty since we were assaulted, is it not?"

"It is, Your Highness," he said. "I had wished to report into you immediately and relieve Starlight, but I'd been told you were out and about the castle halls, apparently not for the first time."

"It sounds as though my chambermaids were present."

"And flustered, Your Highness."

Luna allowed her smile to evolve into a grin, and walked past Wind Seeker, enough signal for him to pivot and follow her. Now two sets of steel-clad footsteps rang through the halls, as Luna walked with staff nestled into her shoulder.

"Have your own injuries mended well, Your Highness?"

"For what my own actions have wrought in forestalling my recovery, yes." The princess took a deep breath, her gaze cast to the floor in thought. "It's disheartening, frankly. I have lived for centuries, spent many in confinement, and as I am finally in a position and begin to win the favor of my subjects, I'm humiliated by a devil woman and thrust into the confines of recovery. There comes a point when you begin to wonder if it's all just an elaborate joke played at your expense."

"You can't mean that, Princess Luna?" The young man was concerned. Luna sighed, looking over her shoulder and smiling wearily to him.

"No, not entirely," she confessed. "I'm merely frustrated. I wish to do my duty as a princess, more than just handling politics and sitting at a throne. As your duty is to stand as my guard, such is mine to stand watch over the night. I am not so delicate, and my sister..." Luna sighed, shaking her head. "Never mind."

"Princess Luna, I can assure you very few think you to be some fledgling princess in sore need of a watchful eye around the clock." The winged guard stood tall, gazing her straight in the face with an even expression. "You are the Princess of the Night, Your Highness. Your people love you, and if nothing else, respect you. Only fools would criticize you for having to recover for defending us from invaders." Wind paused a moment, heated, though his eyes gradually widened. The once Pegasus had come to the realization that he had carried on and gotten ahead of himself. The princess smiled. "I... I spoke out of line, I didn't mean-"

"Be at ease," Luna said in her most reassuring tone. "As ever, I appreciate your frankness. One day, you may find yourself standing guard for my sister and me in court, provided you don't lecture us or our subjects in such a manner."

"You... think so, Your Highness?"

Luna smiled over her shoulder. "I believe I have some weight in the decision. Until then, I hope you are content guarding my flank as I manage the night sky."

"It has always been an honor, Princess Luna." The smile the young guard gave was genuine. Indeed, it had been he who was first to respond to the fox woman, bringing her presence to Luna's attention as she tended to the stars. He fell far and hard, but his former standings as a Pegasus prior to the change had done wonders for him surviving the great drop. He'd been knocked out cold, and so lacked the combat injuries Luna and his fellow guard had suffered.

Luna thanked her stars and moon that he had been spared combat. The other guard lived to be sure, but the way his wings were mangled from one of the blasts, she doubted he would ever fly again. He would be given full pension and retirement from the Equestrian Royal Army for his services, honors and an outgoing promotion for his actions; he and his family would be secure for the rest of their lives. Still, she could not imagine it if her own wings could not heal.

"By the way, Wind Seeker, have you seen my sister today?"

"I believe she left for Appleloosa early in the morning to see to a matter that-"

A 'boom' rattled off down the hallway, rattling window panes and rumbling the floor beneath their feet. Luna and Wind Seeker both exchanged alarmed glances, before taking off toward where the sound had resonated.

Several turns led the way to the destination, with the flow of guards going and stewards and maids and the sort coming gave a clear indicator to the princess that they were, indeed, heading in the right direction. In a matter of a moment or two, it seemed half of the castle staff had assembled or was making gains to at the long stretch of hallway that led to the throne room; those who chose not to flee, of course.

_**"Move!"**_ Luna's voice boomed, adrenaline bringing the Equestrian Royal Voice to its full volume. Those who didn't jump out of the way from shock scrambled aside after, clearing a path for Luna and Wind Seeker to approach. In the midst of the gathering was Princess Celestia, a handful of her guards, and a winged man dressed the part of a diplomat and bearing the sword of a soldier at his hip, all in a state of upset with whatever had blown the gaping hole in the wall beside them, the latter not even standing as he trembled on the floor. The guards were as occupied as they were alarmed, three of them struggling to restrain something, before one was flung back into the opposing, still-existing wall.

"_Let go!"  
><em>  
>Luna bristled at the sound of a child's voice coming from the scene, only to watch a blonde head appear as the other two guards were knocked away, skidding along the floor. The girl turned swiftly to the first, a scowl on her face as a fire erupted in her hand.<p>

"Flandre, enough!" Celestia's voice cut through the air, the shellshock of whatever exactly had occurred gone, replaced by the authority of a princess vast experience and power at her back. Although she had not taken up the tone Luna had, it gave the child pause as if her voice boomed through the whole of Canterlot. The girl, Flandre, turned, giving a sideways glance to Celestia, as if threatening to lash out at her. The audacity this child had astounded Luna, and served to feed her own temper.

"I did not bring you to Canterlot to destroy property or terrorize my subjects. Behave yourself."

"I didn't break him," Flandre said, looking to the winged man. "I just wanted to see him do something funny 'cause he was being mean."

"You insolent little beast!" The man suddenly found his nerve, though he made no move to approach the girl, instead looking to the sun princess. "Your Highness, this child, if she can be called such, is responsible for ravaging the griffon kingdom! The city Klawpathos at our border is in ruins, and dozens of our guard are injured and maimed! A branch of our finest militia may never take flight again, for the actions of one abomination!"

"Sister," Luna approached, her expression stern as Celestia turned to her, "what is the meaning of all of this?"

Celestia gazed pensively upon her sibling, clearly contemplating her next words. Luna could see it plain as her moon on a cloudless night, the elder sister would rather she had not have been privy to the events currently taking place. Celestia, however, resigned to the fact that she was as involved as everyone else now.

"I have much to speak with this little one about," she said, casting a warning gaze to Flandre, who stood up on her toes toward the griffon ambassador, but moved no further. "She has things we can glean from her about our situation, and in return, I have promised my assistance."

"Is this regarding your business trip this morning?" Luna was already aware of Appleloosa's devastation, though the details were sketchy, at best. Celestia's gaze said enough to confirm it, before she turned and looked to Flandre.

"You must cooperate with us if you're going to receive our assistance, child." Celestia was inflexible on the remark, gazing unflinchingly to Flandre. "The guards will escort you to a room that has been prepared for you, and you are to wait there until we speak. If you wish to go home, it would be in your best interests, do you understand?"

Flandre visibly seethed, continuing to stare the ambassador down, fists clenched, her teeth, and an impressive set of fangs, bared in a silent snarl of frustration. Luna wasn't sure there wouldn't be a red, feathered stain to clean off the outer walls of the castle. Even so, Flandre came down off her toes, folding her arms across her chest and turning away.

"Guards, please escort her, and report any misbehavior to me at once." The soldiers, now back on their feet and recovered, if not a bit shaken for their trouble, saluted smartly. However, as they began to walk and lead Flandre off, Luna couldn't help but notice that they kept more than the usual distance from the child than most guests they escorted through the castle.

"As for you, Ambassador," Princess Celestia said, turning on her toes and facing the man, gazing down to him with an equally stern expression, in spite of the measure of remorse in her face, "I want to offer you my apologies for the child's behavior. I have already heard some details of the griffons' own plights. However, if you would wait a short time and permit me the time to refresh myself, I will hear your complaints, provided you have nowhere else to be before then." It was polite enough, but the point was laid out clearly enough that the ambassador took note; behave himself and wait for his audience, or forsake the option all together. Judging by the look of resignation on his face, it seemed that he would opt to wait. Without awaiting his words, she began to walk, speaking without looking back. "Luna, will you meet me in the throne room shortly so that we can see to these affairs?"

"Of course," she responded, watching Celestia's back until it disappeared at the turn of a corner. Taking a breath, she stepped away from the crowd, pondering the child she had just seen, and tried to think of just what motives her sister had for bringing that child into the heart of Equestria.

The meeting with the ambassador had taken place within the hour, and had taken twice as long to complete; relatively quick, considering Luna could count on both hands the number of thinly veiled political threats. The griffons were proud, fierce and strong, and although they lacked the innate magics the ponyfolk of Equestria bore, they were by no means a nation of weaklings. Flandre had, by no less than twenty-three eye witness accounts, made short work of them. There were assertions from his superiors in the government that what she had done earned the most severe punishment that could be conceived, whether she survived or not, and that refusal of the kingdom's rights were tantamount to a declaration of war. In the end, neither princess promised anything other than that they would consider his words with the time they required, and that the child was firmly secure within the keep. He was given quarters to hang his hat for the night, and the sisters retired to their wing of the castle to speak in peace over the day's business.

"He was right, you know," Luna said, standing at the door to a balcony, gazing up at her moon and stars. "That child is far too dangerous to simply let be, and if she is responsible for all that he claimed-"

"And the devastation of Appleloosa," Celestia said, confirming Luna's concerns. The younger sister tensed. "I am completely aware of how dangerous she is... and how volatile now, as well."

"Then why do we offer her a place in our castle? Certainly a dungeon is more suitable."

"You would so quickly cast a child into such a place, as clearly unstable as she is?" Luna frowned, but turned a quiet gaze over her shoulder to her sister, where she sat on her bed. "Consider how she handled the ambassador, short-tempered but with a measure of tact as he is. Now think about how long we would be cleaning the stains from every solid surface in there with her power. I gave her that room, Luna, because she is isolated save the staff that will interact with her, and they are heavily guarded and warded whenever they step into the room. I have thought long and hard about this option, and for the moment, it is best for everyone involved. At least until we come to a decision on what to do with her."

"A thousand years ago, this would not have been a question," Luna said, turning fully back to her sister and approaching her. "Why do you hesitate? Clearly she is of the enemy's ranks, and she is far from... from..."

"Human."

"I dislike that word."

"It's the truth. Regardless, you're right."

"So why do we tolerate the insolence, the wanton destruction in two nations? Is it because she is a child, sister? Does her youth bring you pause?"

"Something like that," Celestia said. Luna frowned, seeing what was going on, and moved to sit beside her. The lunar princess did not desire a one-sided conversation while her sister sat in pensive thought.

"There's something peculiar about her that has you," Luna said, her voice soft, but her words straight. "Speak truthfully to me, what has you so hesitant?"

"Do you recall the casualty report?"

"I..." Luna paused, staring at her sister with mouth open, but no words on her lips. Finally, she looked back out toward the moon. "I... heard no mention of it, no. You must have forgotten to inform me."

"That's good, being as there is none."

"... What?"

"I know, it's strange, but it's the truth. For all the destruction and mayhem that child caused between our kingdoms, not a single life was lost. She's unstable, with power no mere child should possess, but she does. At the same time though, there's just that, she's a child in many aspects, including her behavior." Celestia lowered her hands to her knees, gazing out to the night with her sister. "I'm not even sure she understands the gravity of what it is she's doing. Regardless of what she's done, can she rightly be judged if she's so..."

"Insane?"

"... Not the word I was going for." She closed her eyes, and Luna could see she could not argue it. "She's likely one of Yukari's allies, so at the least, we can get some information from her. So far I've been speaking with her regarding her own family. She misses them quite a bit."

"Tia," Luna spoke her sister's nickname with concern. "Even if she hasn't killed anyone, the child _has_ injured many, some severely. Her crimes cannot simply be brushed aside, no matter how badly she misses her loved ones... Yet you know all of this, why must I tell you?"

The solar princess gave a wry smile, wrapping an arm around Luna's shoulders and bringing her into a close embrace. "Because sometimes your big sister can get a little sentimental after all of the politics and posturing is done for the day. I have only one other person who I would remotely consider confiding in such depth to."

"Twilight Sparkle, no doubt," Luna said, leaning into the embrace, her head resting upon her sister's shoulder. "Your pupil is impressive in several aspects. It's hard to believe how far she's come from being a reclusive understudy as you claimed she was."

"She started big in rescuing you," Celestia hugged Luna a little tighter. "I believe that with the Elements of Harmony in their grasp again, she and her friends will succeed in their part of restoring Equestria."

"... Actually... the Elements of Harmony remain under lock and key at the castle."

Celestia looked to Luna strangely. She hesitated, unsure of how to tell her sister at first; then she just decided to charge ahead with the straight truth.

"A missive arrived this morning shortly before you sped off to Appleloosa. Ponyville and Cloudsdale were both host to extraordinary combat, the likes of which I encountered a month ago." Luna's fists balled up in her lap. "For that... we cannot locate the bearers of Kindness, Generosity or Loyalty."

"... I see," the elder sister mumbled after a pause, slowly rising and walking toward the balcony. She pushed open the pane glass doors and stepped out onto the platform, hands settling on the gilded rails as she gazed over Canterlot. Luna was right behind her, staring pensively for a moment, allowing it to sink in.

"Have there been bodies, or... anything?"

"No." Luna closed her eyes. "No sign of any of them at their homes, their work... just ruin and three missing girls." Luna took a slow breath, awaiting her sister's response for several moments. When none came, she finally reached out, brushing fingers down her arm, reminding her sibling of her presence, of her support.

Celestia's hand found Luna's shoulder, giving it a squeeze as she turned back in.

"Then for now, as much as it pains me to say, Twilight and the remaining bearers must fend for themselves without the elements at their disposal." She pivoted, turning on her toes and approaching her vanity, gathering the gold plated arms with her magic and systematically equipping them.

"Tia?"

"Shining Armor and Cadence are not scheduled to leave Canterlot for the north for a short while yet," Celestia said, stepping into her boots before she summoned her staff, floating the rod from a rack against the wall before she turned to their bedroom door, beginning to walk at a hurried pace. "If we hope to achieve anything, we must act quickly, and affirm the support of our allies. I will see you later, Luna."

The moon princess watched Celestia leave, turning back out to the balcony and looking at her evening sky, seeking solace from the stars and moon above.

"I hope it is enough."

* * *

><p>The day in Ponyville had wound to a close a few hours ago, but the night was young yet, and Suika was determined to educate her hosts on the wonders of the night life. The remainder day had been spent indoors, much to Suika's own dismay; even after the storm clouds departed in the late afternoon. They had taken long hours drudging through discussions of what had happened, the situations that brought them to their current positions. They had heard Applejack's and Twilight's stories, and had yet to proceed with their own.<p>

As Suika sat under the stars in the apple orchard, hefting a barrel of hard cider with ease and drinking straight from the tap, it was no small wonder why.

"I've gotta say," Yuugi said beside her, sakazuki cradled gently in her fingertips with the same liquid, "you do some great work with this, kid."

"Ah appreciate it," Applejack said, a little terse in response to her title, "but Ah'm hardly a child."

"When you're our age, trust me, you are."

Suika pulled back from the barrel, bringing the container down and sucking in a breath of air. "Oh, _man_, this wasn't a bad idea. I wonder what else we can get going here? I heard you all had some big party every now and then... The... The Great Gabbing-"

"The Grand Galloping Gala." Twilight corrected her. "It's not really _that_ kind of party."

"Are ya sure ya ain't had enough?" Applejack asked, leaning on an untapped keg. "Ah mean ya've downed five barrels've our stock so far. Mebbe ya oughtta, y'know, ease off?"

"Are you kidding?" Suika laughed, hands set on her knees as she leaned back. "I could keep this up all night! Your cider's good, but not a knockout! Hey, we should really get a good party, you know? Food, drinks, merriment, all of it! Feasting day in and day out for a little while to help lighten the dreary mood around here!"

"Pretty sure the last time you tried something like that it backfired," Yuugi pointed out casually.

"Well, I promised Reimu I wouldn't do it in Gensokyo..."

"And it's that kind of thing that got you in trouble in the first place with the rest of our kind."

Suika pouted openly, casting a frown at the taller oni. "That's cruel."

"Honesty, Suika."

Suika puffed her cheeks out in the manner of a child, never mind the outstanding resemblance, and took a deep drink from her gourd as opposed to the barrel aside her.

"While this is all well and fine," Twilight, the killjoy as Suika considered her, interrupted, "can we _please_ pick up on our earlier discussion?"

"But the party..."

"They've been good hosts to us though," Yuugi said. Suika sighed in exasperation, waving a hand in gesture for them to continue with the drudgery of business as she picked the barrel back up and drank from it again, her other hand reaching for one of those other delicious apple treats she'd tasted earlier called 'fritters'.

"You're aware of our situation now regarding why we're human and how Yukari challenged us." Twilight cut straight to the point, naturally, grabbing a mug of non-alcoholic cider. "Without our three other friends, we can't activate the Elements of Harmony. I hate that we're leaning so heavily upon them, but I don't think we have even a remote hope of beating her game without them."

Yuugi nodded, lightly tipping her dish back and forth, the small pool of cider within it gliding with the motion. "You've risked a lot by telling us all of this so frankly, kid. Did you ever stop to consider that Yukari might have sent us over to deal with the rest of you? You saw what we did to that overgrown lizard, so what do you think we could do to you?"

"I considered that. Your strength is, quite frankly, remarkable. I've never seen anything like it, perhaps with Big Macintosh as the nearest exception to the rule. I sincerely doubt anyone in Ponyville, likely all of Equestria, could go toe to toe with you."

"But we had ta take the chance and ask," Applejack said, shifting her weight onto her hands and lifting up on the barrel. "Y'all are our best bet at getting' our friends back, we had ta try."

Yuugi chuckled a little bit, raising her dish to her lips. "I can respect that." The tall oni took a drink, lowering the dish again, a calm gaze set upon the two. "But what would you two do if we decided not to tell you what we know?"

Suika's eyebrow rose as she saw the other blonde across from them tense. Putting herself in a more upright sitting position, she gave a little more attention as the tension rose in the air.

"We don't want a fight if we can help it," Twilight said, though there was a clear determination in her expression, "but we'll do whatever we have to. Even if Equestria doesn't ever return to normal, our friends have to come back to us from where ever they are."

"They could be dead," Suika said, intrigue in Twilight's features as the violet headed girl blanched a bit. "What would you do then?"

"Dea..." She stopped as if the word were taboo. She tensed visibly, and seemed to grow upset, but restrained herself. The girl was clearly unsure where to go with that.

"Relax," Suika said, turning her eyes up to the moon above. "It's just food for thought. Yukari's not that cruel. If she messed with your friends under these circumstances, I bet she's got them running in circles or something to make things more challenging. Though, who's to say if we're the only ones around here?" The shorter oni pointed a finger at the two girls. "I wanna have fun, that's all I'm worried about right now. But if we're here, and Yukari and her pets have been, others could be, or already may be here."

"Yer sayin' that there's more of ya?" Applejack seemed stunned, a fact that got Suika to grin a bit.

"Oh, a lot more." Yuugi took a sip from her cup before continuing. "You talked about all the different kinds of people there are and what they used to be here. It's kind of like that in Gensokyo. There are more types of youkai and spirits than you could believe, all of them with their own abilities. That's not accounting for the spiritually empowered humans. Some of their powers are greater than ours, too."

"Like Yukari," Twilight said.

"Yeah, like Yukari." The tall oni eyed the girl and her blonde companion, her expression calm, unmistakably serious. "You don't have a hope in any Hell of beating her in an outright fight. You have to play her game."

"And where do y'all come inta the game?" Applejack asked.

"Where ever we want," Suika said, her posture lax and expression easy. "Party, drink, enjoy ourselves, pretty simple. We're free to do as we please."

"So..." Twilight trailed off, clearly boggled over the notion. She pointed to the two, canting her head to a side. "You're not on her side? I thought you guys were here to... to..."

"Raise Hell all over Equestria?" Yuugi asked.

"Beat you to bloody smears?" Suika followed, earning a cringe from the violet-haired one.

"Yeah, something like that," she responded flatly.

"Well, we haven't really made up our minds if we even want to play in this. As far as things go, we're just free floating pieces who can do whatever we want for the moment." Yuugi took another drink, before bringing her dish-bearing arm down on her knee. "Might not even get involved. I mean, what's in it for us if we do? Right now, I just want to enjoy this new world a bit."

Suika paid attention to Twilight and Applejack, and Big Macintosh behind. The three looked... boggled, Big Macintosh perhaps the most of all. Of course, that big lug had apparently had a satellite role in the entire situation. No, their two focuses were the girls. It was easy to see why they were pondering over it. Two oni had just stepped into their world, flattened a monster lizard, and admitted they were along for kicks, at the behest of the one responsible for their situation. If the small oni had been expecting enemies as this lot seemed to have, she would have been thrown for a loop much the same.

Applejack was the first to make a move, approaching the two of them with a stern look on her face. She gazed down upon the two, taking a breath and balling up her fists at her sides. Behind her, Twilight looked on with mild concern.

"Ah won't play with ya, Ah don't entirely trust ya." The cowgirl had no malice in her voice, no swell of emotion or anything extreme, she spoke simply and plainly. "Y'all say yer here 'cuz that gap woman, and ya play around with hydras and the sort like it's nothin' ta speak of. Ya don't seem nasty, but we haven't known ya fer even a day yet."

"So you don't trust us," Yuugi said, frowning ever so slightly, but appearing mostly intrigued.

"Exactly." Applejack stared for a moment, before holding a hand out between the oni.

"I'll bite, what'cha up to?" Suika sat upright, clearly intrigued.

"Ah want'cher honest word." Simultaneously, the two's brows piqued at Applejack's statement. "If y'all do wind up playin' on Yukari's side, Ah want'cher word that y'll only come after us two. Ponyville ain't a part of this fight. If it's strength yer lookin' ta match, ya ain't gunna find another girl better'n me."

"And how about the big man right behind you?"

Applejack looked taken aback, and turned her head. Big Macintosh stood behind her, towering over her in the moonlight.

"Big Mac, Ah got this-"

"Nope."

"But-" Any protest was silenced as one of his hands came down and settled gently on her shoulder, wide enough to cover it whole. Suika might have thought him an oni herself if not for the lack of horn. Applejack conceded with a heavy breath. "Fine."

Yuugi laughed a bit beside her, resting her weight on her knees. "You've got a good brother there, kid. If you've got the stones to challenge us, you'll need power like his." The blonde oni rose, and Suika followed in suit. "Fine, an oni lives by her word. If we wanna mix things up, you two'll be our entertainment." Yuugi reached out, taking Big Macintosh's hand as he offered it, returning a surprisingly firm handshake, considering. "But until then, I'm good on having a few of the locals as drinking buddies, what do you say?"

Suika clapped her hand into Applejack's grinning broadly. To the farm girl's credit, she didn't flinch, considering the smack echoed through the orchard. "You have been holding back. If you're gonna go all out in a fight with us, why not in the festivities too?"

Applejack grimaced a little bit at the notion, staring unsure at Suika for a moment. The little oni was almost certain she'd decline. Then, she released her hand, knelt down and grabbed her gourd, before tilting it back and taking one or two gulps of the contents. As she lowered it, she offered it back, a little hint of flush visible in her cheeks.

"Tha's some strong stuff."

"Never runs out, either," Suika said with a broad grin. "Have all you like!"

Yuugi laughed a bit, free hand on her hip. "Sounds like we're finally getting somewhere. Let's get this party started!"

* * *

><p>Rarity had sworn that she was going up when she started her journey. The events of the last... however long had been enough to make her want to cry. She had passed out abruptly, with no explanation, in the midst of the Equestrian Plains, and awoke in a tangle of rubble in a dark, dank cavern. With no light to be seen from either direction, the seamstress made due with the only logic she could; go against the slope.<p>

_A fat lot of good this has done me_, she chided herself, once more on descent. Her heeled boots were clutched in one hand, for hopes at avoiding a second encounter with nearly twisting her ankle in the cavern, her wand aglow with magical light in the other, and her stockings ruined from the rough ground. _It must have been hours by now, and I've nothing to show for it but a ruined pedicure and winding up covered in filth. Never mind where the others must be._ Worry painted over her features. _Oh dear, I hope Fluttershy is alright. I can only imagine how terrifying this must be for her._ She would have even preferred to have been within the depths of the Diamond Dogs' mines once again; at least they were easy enough to manipulate. She was entirely alone. The most peculiar thing to catch her attention had been a stream of peculiar wisps of white and blue that hugged the ceiling, now and then passing overhead.

Weary both emotionally and physically, she found a smooth, flat topped stone, and lowered herself to sit. Raising her feet, she inspected them, grimacing. No cuts or bruises, fortunately, but they ached terrifically. Before long, certainly, they would blister, not befitting of a lady at all. With a huff, she leaned forward, setting the balls of her feet only on the earth beneath her and propping her head in her hands. "The high price of fashion indeed. Perhaps I should have made myself a pair of those sneakers Rainbow Dash had commissioned..." She smiled dimly, keeping the fond memory of the rainbow-headed girl coming to her, talking about these 'awesome' shoes she'd seen someone else wearing that were a must have. It was the only time she'd ever seen her care about the appearance of her clothes, really. Though, they were hardly necessary with her wings, but Rarity would not question one of the rare chances to that Rainbow willingly let her play with her wardrobe.

Rainbow Dash, too, had been badly injured the last time she'd seen her. She wondered if the girl was alright where ever she wound up. That wing of hers would need to be tended to quickly if she were ever to have hopes of flying again. Even then, it would be weeks before she could do so properly. Those wounds weren't just from some little acrobatic stunt. Would she even be able to fend for herself in her condition?

Rarity found herself a troubled with how she took solace thinking about the problems of her friends over her own. Shaking her head, she instead thought back of home. How quickly would people notice their disappearances? Certainly, their friends would wonder what happened, especially as they were due to receive the Elements of Harmony on the following day. There would be a search out as soon as they'd come up missing. She worried what her parents would think, or Sweetie Bell. At least having family in Ponyville wouldn't leave Opalescence unfed... too long, at any rate.

"This is so horribly frustrating." She sat upright in a huff, grasping her shoes and continuing the trek into the cavern. She continued on and on once again, the monotonous trail doing nothing to ease her concerns, or keep her interest. She focused instead on what she would do once she did reach the surface, where ever that was. Finding out where in Equestria she'd been dispatched would be of highest priority, naturally, then getting in contact with someone. Perhaps Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would be able to provide an escort. _Well, I suppose that would be one silver lining to this. What girl wouldn't dream of having a royal escort to her house?_ She paused, seeing something glint before her in her wand's light. _Speaking of silver linings..._

Rarity raised her wand over her head, strengthening the light and watching more shining strands reflect the unnatural illumination. It took a moment to piece it together, but with a shudder and a grimace, she quickly realized what obstructed her path. She was a mere couple yards from the largest spider web she had ever encountered in her entire life. Releasing a shuddering breath, she set her hand down at her hip. "Of all the rotten luck. Could this day possibly get _any_ worse?" She pondered her next course of action for a moment, studying the spider's silk. Already, there were creatures in Equestria she had heard spoken of in whispers capable of such things... Perhaps she was close to Tartarus. If such were the case, she hoped not to descend further.

_Silk, though... Oh, iiideeaaa!_ She smiled, the first positive thing to happen since she'd regained consciousness. Holding her wand out, the light shifted from a simple glow to a blue-tinted aura, one that spread rapidly over the entirety of the web. Whipping the wand-bearing hand down, she tore the entire structure free from the cavern walls, loosing several large stones in the process that urged her to step back in caution. With her spell, she snapped and trimmed individual strands, beginning to weave them together as she moved to another stone nearby. Easing herself to sit, she raised both legs into the air. The silk spun rapidly as it wove and threaded, shaking off any inhabitants, or catches, before lunging at her feet and encircling them, winding as far up as her ankles. It took a moment, ensuring that the weave was snug, before the remaining material snapped away. Examining her feet, she smiled. Spider silk slippers, plain in color, and not the most glamorous work she had ever done, but they served the purpose. Standing again, she tested them. The roughness of the ground was barely noticeable through the thick padding against the soles of her feet. The remainder, she fashioned into a small bag, and deposited her boots within, before grabbing it and continuing on unobstructed. "Much better."

Her departure halted as an array of crimson bullets sprayed into the floor ahead of her, reducing many of the stones ahead to gravel and kicking up dust. Turning sharply, she pointed her wand, the glow now flaring and illuminating the entire immediate area of the cavern as if the sun had finally shown itself.

"I put a lot of work into that, you know," a female voice rang from above. Dumbstruck by the absence of form and the statement, Rarity only found movement again as another array came at her, forcing her to leap aside. "What's another surface dweller doing down here anyways? Are you a youkai?"

"What... _who_ are you?" Rarity demanded more than asked, narrowing her eyes. Before long, she saw movement from the shadows in one of the upper ridges of the cave, before watching a figure leap from it, dropping rapidly and flipping before coming to a slow descent, actually stopping in the air above the floor. Her brown and yellow-buttoned dress was simple, but looked a bit... homely, if Rarity had to call it out, especially that bulge from the hips down.

She smiled easily to her, though there was a predatory quality to her eyes past the blonde bangs. "Most trespassers down here don't ask." She grinned a little, the red lights from before beginning to form in countless individual spears around her. "My name is Yamame Kurodani, and you're wearing my web. Nothing personal, but you'll be my dinner now."

* * *

><p><strong>Post Script<strong>: I don't do this kind of thing much anymore, but I'd like to offer an apology to the readers of this fic for the time between chapters. Everything between issues surrounding the plot and a lot of affairs between personal life and work have not helped, but it's no excuse on my part for not at least finding a way to put out word. Liiiittle bit of lazy on my end. Except a lot. At any rate, I'll be working to get you chapters more quickly than with half-year gaps, else this'd never get done. Thanks to those who've stuck by and those who continue to drop by, and hope you continue to enjoy the story!


	5. Recover

**My Little Illusion**

_Recover_

Yamame Kurodani was generally easy to get along with, by either youkai or human standards. She enjoyed the company of her fellows and didn't have much objection to visitors, regardless of how the surface world would look upon her abilities to manipulate disease and illness. She thought, frankly, she was even pretty cute for a tsuchigumo, the spider youkai of the underground. Her greatest offense was probably against those who were devoured, trespassing youkai and humans breaking the contract of the Old Hell and the surface in particular.

Before her must have been one, a magician youkai by the looks of things. After all, it was that strange stick of hers she wove around that was responsible for the destruction of her web. At least it served its purpose before being wound about the violet headed girl's feet and turned to what appeared to be a satchel of sorts; it had made her aware of the presence of her prey. Now, she was laying fire all around the purple-headed perpetrator, waiting for her to wear out from dancing around her danmaku, or return fire with her own.

_What's she doing?_ Yamame thought after a few minutes. She could see the girl making great efforts to dodge; her top was already beginning to show sweat stains against her stick's light from all the running and leaping about. Couldn't she fly? Was this all a lead into a trap of a personal design? Normally she didn't give so much thought to things, but the display was strange; and Yamame had seen plenty of strange things. She could just have well been a coward who traipsed into the wrong cave. _Well, no matter. It won't make much difference in a few minutes._

"H, honestly, what is your problem?!" The violet headed girl exclaimed. Yamame continued her barrage, ignoring her protests. "What do you mean, 'I destroyed your trap'?! Are you saying-"

"You are _really_ slow!" The blonde cut her off, reaching between her black blouse and dress and whipping out a slip of paper, decorated in kana and kanji. It came to life with light in her hand, and the world seemed to take on an almost supernatural sheen. A faint blue aura filled the cavern, creating what appeared almost as another world, seamlessly enveloping them. "Spider, 'Cave Spider's Nest'!"

She had to give credit to her foe, as her reaction time had saved her life. As the spell card activated, toxic green bullets lashed out as if a striking snake, each individual bullet suspended in place in the air initially. Her prey had managed to leap out of the way, escaping with a graze that showed in the side of her blouse. She saw her give pause as the lines retracted back around her, and sprayed out, slamming into the cavern walls, floors and ceiling, turning large stones to gravel and dust and pockmarking the ground as deep as they ran before burning out. Already, the next wave was in motion. As she continued to sit there motionless, she was certain the girl would die on the spot, something that served Yamame's purpose better at least. Danmaku games didn't always wind up being lethal, but in a game that involved dancing around a barrage of countless magical bullets, there were bound to be exceptions now and then. All that meant was she wouldn't have to take the extra step on claiming her meal.

The array shot out again, cocked aside just enough that one of the streams would strike her. This almost criminally easy game was almost over. Just then, the girl raised that strange stick of hers, and an aura blasted out around her. Her bullets coming at her seized in mid-air, and those others that had sprayed out began to retract back in for the second wave. _Some good a bomb's gonna do her at this point without ever firing baWHOA!_

The tsuchigumo's arms flew up in self-defense as her bullets were suddenly flung back at her. They were grazing shots, only one or two nearly hitting home as the rest collided with her new wave. The collision created explosions that threw dust and rock everywhere, driving Yamame back and forcing her to break her spell card. She cursed under her breath foully; she'd gotten careless against a trifling opponent. No matter, she'd just bring out her next card and end it without any further delay.

So she thought. Through the smoke, she saw a head of violet hair leap at her, arm with the rod drawn back as she swung forward. Yamame didn't know what happened next until it was too late. Before long, she was off balance, arms and hands pinned at her sides and hips, compressed against them. She struggled to keep her balance in the air, the sudden restraint making her center awkward. Before long, she dropped down to her feet to keep from a more painful landing, dropping to her knees and straining. She looked up, spite and anger painfully apparent in her eyes as she realized, with the woman's new handbag gone, just what had immobilized her.

"If you wanted that web so badly, you can have it." The violet-headed woman was as condescending as possible, sparing no shortage of venom in her voice. "I don't know who exactly you are, but I imagine that if Princess Celestia saw you abusing your magic so detestably by attacking others, you'd be in more than just a little bit of trouble!"

"Princess-who?" Yamame stared at her, dumbstruck. "Did you take a blow to the head wandering through the cave? Did Kisume clock you on your way down here?"

The two stared at one another for a long time, each one clearly unsure of exactly what was transpiring. Silence fell back in the cave, and the only light to either of them was that strange stick that her opponent held. Yamame found her voice again as indignation welled up inside of her, and she kicked her heels against the ground, wriggling against her own silk. "And what kind of lousy danmaku is this?! Even we respect your rules on the surface about them, so why didn't you fire back?!

"Danmaku?" She cocked her head, an eyebrow raised. "What in Equestria are you talking about?"

"And what the heck is Equestria?!"

They paused again. Any steam Yamame gathered had been lost as the two simply stared dumbly at one another. Finally, she simply heaved a sigh of frustration and resignation, falling back onto the floor, staring up into the darkness above. "A spider caught in her own web by an airheaded youkai who doesn't even know how to use danmaku properly. I've hit a real low point."

"Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you didn't attack me from the outset," her foe huffed, hands set on her hips and a frown on her brow. "You're a woman at any rate... no matter how strange your abilities. Why are you skulking about this dank cave like that? And what's that nonsense about destroying your home? And what's this youkai nonsense... you're... Oh my."

"Now she gets it." Yamame sighed, tilting her head up and looking past her chest at the violet-headed girl. She blinked, seeing the startled expression on her face, cocking her head to one side. "Are you going to run screaming now?"

"Huh? N, no... Don't be so ridiculous."She grew alert, however, watching Yamame start squirming and wriggling in her bindings. In a few seconds she had slid them up over her shoulders, and slipped free, pulling the woven threads off over her head and discarding them, simply rising to her feet and dusting her dress off. "You, um... you mentioned youkai. This place, then... this isn't Equestria, so where are we?"

The blonde peered at her oddly. Again, this woman had taken her by surprise. "How can you not know?" She brought herself to her feet, studying her expression. She seemed genuinely clueless. "We're in the Underground beneath Gensokyo. How could you seriously not know?"

"Gensokyo..." she muttered, her expression becoming grave. "Are you working with that woman, Yukari?"

"Yukari's not just one person's name, you know." She paused, thinking on it for a moment or two, before her eyes widened a little. "You don't mean that old gap woman?"

"So you _do_ know her."

"Who _doesn't_?" Yamame frowned again. "She's one of the oldest and most powerful youkai in Gensokyo! Even someone like you knows about her, after all."

"How can I not when your people come to our world and wreak absolute havoc, doing whatever pleases them at our expense?"

"Another world, really?" Yamame gazed incredulously at the girl. "Maybe if you were talking about the Real World outside, but, another one entirely? Are you soft in the head?"

"I beg your pardon?!" This certainly flustered the girl, as she stamped forward, leaning down close to Yamame's face. "I may not be entirely savvy on all the goings on in this 'Gensokyo' or whatever it is, but I will not be labeled as a liar! I have no more desire to believe that this place exists than you do of my world, but here I am, lost, and quite possibly stranded! I'm just trying to find my way out of these horrid, loathsome caverns, and then I'm attacked by a mouthy little... _spider woman!"_ She stood upright and spun about, folding her arms in a huff.

_I guess you can't get that sincerely pissed off unless you mean it,_ Yamame thought, sighing and closing her eyes. _I can't believe it, but I may have to take her word for it. _"To attack another world though..." she found herself mumbling, causing her foe to turn.

"What's that?" the trespasser said, earning Yamame's eyes again.

"Forget it," the tsuchigumo responded. She was silent, pondering the situation a moment before staring the strange, foreign woman in the eyes. "What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"What. Is. Your. Name?" Yamame took her time, enunciating each word excessively. "I already introduced myself to you, and since it's pretty clear the mood for battle's lifted, I want to know yours."

"Oh," she said, comprehension dawning on her. "Rarity, my name is Rarity. It's, er... nice, to meet you."

"Alright then, Rarity, let's go." Yamame walked on by her, in the direction she had been taking before. "We've got a ways to go before the oni all stir."

"Oni? Wait just a moment, what exactly are you talking about?"

Yamame continued walking, but paid close attention to the sounds of footsteps behind her. She had the other woman in tow, so that was at least one thing accomplished. "I'm taking you to see the one who manages the workings of the Underground. She'll know what to do with you, I'm guessing."

"Am... am I in some sort of trouble? Is this an arrest or sorts?"

"No, but you're... curious, and we've had strange things happening all over Gensokyo as of late." She stopped only a short ways from where they had fought, reaching at the back of the bow for her dress and drawing out a strand of silk. She crouched, planting it on a large boulder and setting it with a firm pat. A few tugs ensured it to be secure, and she turned back to Rarity, gesturing for her to approach. "The satori youkai will want to read your heart. You may have some answers for us that we've been denied."

"R... read my heart?" The woman set a hand over her chest with caution. The youkai only grinned a little.

"It's going to stay in there. It's sort of like how you humans talk about mind reading and the sort. Come on now, we haven't got time to waste. I mean, unless you want to stumble around in the dark any longer."

Rarity seemed to take exception to that remark, ensuring she had a hand on her personal effects and approaching. Yamame held out her hand, and Rarity took it, only to be tugged in close.

"Hold on, we've got a few kilometers to drop."

"Oh, alright... wait, _droAAAAH!"_

Yamame leapt into the darkness, with the screaming woman at her side, and web firm in hand, spelunking into the all too familiar depths of the underground path. The roar of air past her ears dulled the otherwise ear-splitting screech at her side.

* * *

><p>To Rarity's personal credit, she only screamed for the first fifteen seconds, about the time it took for the silk to jerk taut and throw her forward on her host's shoulder. She didn't realize how hard she'd been squeezing onto her, seeing visible pain in the youkai's face before she eased.<p>

"Oh, pardon me," she said abashedly, her voice still trembling with adrenaline and fear. Gazing below her feet to the pit below did not help. She did, however, squint. There was a dim green light, far, far below, too far to make out.

"Forget it," she wheezed. Rarity felt something shuffle under the bulge of the dress, but had little time to consider the strange brushing sensation before she felt their descent resume. "Where we're going though, you'd better'd not grab onto anyone else like that." Yamame gazed up, watching the silk slide slowly through her hand. "This'd be so much easier if you could fly."

"I hardly have wings on my back, do I?"

"What would you need wings for unless you're a bird?"

Again, a bout of awkward conversation followed by equally uncomfortable silence. Rarity merely sighed and looked back down below. She had a great multitude of questions to ask the tsuchigumo, but had no clue where to start. Perhaps most predominantly would be where she could begin to look for those who were lost. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash needed to be found quickly so that they could pool their resources and find a way home. What to eat, how the world worked, even threats fell second in line to her friends' safety.

Well, most of them did. Being sprayed with an array of magical bolts definitely took a seat at the top of her more immediate priorities.

Several minutes of descent later, Rarity's silk-clad feet touched down on something solid. She gazed down, looking at rough wooden boards layered with dust and stone, forming a bridge on a slight decline further down into the cavern. The sound of water trickling resounded loudly over the stone, adding a calming backdrop to the otherwise silent shaft. The glow Rarity had spied from far above was strangely ambient. There was no clear source of light discernible from where she was, yet the dim glow illuminated everything, as if a lantern were lit somewhere overhead.

"You've got to be careful down here," Yamame said, beginning to walk. Rarity walked quickly up to her side and met her pace, staying next to her as they moved. "Where we're going is considered a place that's dangerous for a human to visit on their own. The last time humans came here, things were... pretty intense for a little while."

Rarity had a good sense that Yamame was sparing a great many details to what her use of the word 'intense' belied. However, she did not press it, and focused on the path ahead, treading cautiously on the aged woodwork. "So then, you might say that my presence here is something of a taboo."

"You could say that," the blonde remarked, glancing out the corner of her eyes to gaze on Rarity. "But you should worry about whose appetite you work up."

"Appetite?"

"You do know that many youkai _eat_ humans, don't you?"

Rarity recoiled almost immediately, stopping and staring at Yamame, her face pale and eyes as wide as saucers. "B... but, you..."

"You haven't already forgotten that I am one, right?" Her escort paused, hands resting on her hips and an unimpressed expression settled below her brow.

"Of course not, you made no business of hiding it," Rarity defended herself, arms taut at her sides and hands balled into fists. "But I thought it had to do with the whole spider thing! Just how many of you cannibalistic creatures are there out here?"

"More than you could count. Gensokyo exists as a world for the youkai and those like us." Yamame made a gesture for Rarity to follow and continued. The fashionista did so as her host continued to speak; it seemed she'd get her explanation after all. "Many years ago, the youkai of our world lived among the humans who dwelt in the Real World. There was a very simple way of things; the youkai hunted and terrorized humans and surrounding regions, and the humans fought back. We had a pretty exciting life, but not bad by any means. I guess you could say most things that happened were brought upon ourselves.

"Some time ago though, things changed, and the balance we lived by for so long shifted. The humans of the outside world began to reject us. Not in as if we were social outcasts or by merely hunting us anymore, but our very lives and beings. The fact that we merely existed was thrown into question by them, and they tried to just... explain us away as if we were some child's fear. Even the native gods were losing their power; except for the humans that lived in our immediate domain, it seemed the world was determined to forget about us. If we wound up forgotten, then that would have been the end of us entirely. Most of us would've simply ceased to exist.

"We were saved, ultimately, thanks to the creation of Gensokyo. Yukari Yakumo and the Hakurei shrine maiden worked together and built the border that separates us from the Real World. The youkai of Gensokyo and the human village within it were ultimately sealed off, and we were given our sanctuary from the Real World. Life goes on, and we keep doing what we've been doing for all these years."

"It..." Rarity paused, not certain what the appropriate response to the story was. Out of common decency, she couldn't exactly feel sympathy the fact that they were victimized for being the victimizers, but erasure, no, _genocide_ it sounded like, was extreme at least. As she glossed over the story again in her mind, however, she looked back to Yamame, puzzling details during their walk.

"There can't be that many, though. I mean, if you all... eat, humans, then how have they sustained themselves?" Rarity almost couldn't believe she was asking a question like this so calmly. "I mean... humans don't... um..."

"Reproduce quickly, no." Yamame glanced over her shoulder at Rarity, shooting her an odd look. She turned back ahead just as quickly. "To be honest, I don't think about it that much. But we do eat other things, and mostly we co-exist. Just, you know, there's occasionally a little snacking to be done."

"... How... nice," Rarity managed, letting a shudder roll off her shoulders. "But, to have the power to create an entire world as well? How long must that have taken? Certainly such an endeavor didn't occur overnight." The latter was not a concept lost on Rarity; after all, the diarchy of Equestria was laid at the hooves... feet, of two siblings who respectively controlled the Sun and Moon, and all its underlying aspects.

"You're right about that." Yamame paused, looking around curiously. "I've heard a lot of things, stuff passed down by elders who had a hand in it, and a lot of youkai and humans who've died since then. Some say the boundary had been in the works for decades, even centuries. This is just Gensokyo's basic history. Ask any youkai with half a care and they can tell you the same, more or less." She walked a little further ahead, peaking down to where all the little rivulets of water had gathered into a shallow stream, flowing further into the earthen passage ahead. "Where is she...?"

"'She'?" Rarity repeated, causing Yamame to shrug and continue to walk.

"At any rate, I'm just telling you what we all know because it's our history. If you want more details, you've got to speak with one of the youkai or the gods who followed that. I guess the only thing since then is that we've gotten new types come to Gensokyo who fled the outside world for similar reasons. I've heard from one of the residents who passes to and from the underground that there's a girl with a detached head wandering around. Can you believe that?"

"Oh... my, no, I suppose I can't." Rarity walked again, silence pervading between them for a few more moments. Finally, she turned her head. "Um... Yamame, was it?"

"You've got it." The blonde didn't look back as she was addressed.

"You're going an awfully long ways out of your way to assist me, aren't you? I mean... it can't even have been an hour, and yet you've gone from assaulting me to guiding me down these tunnels... Is there something I should know?"

Yamame chuckled a little bit. "You've got the sense to ask, so that's good. No, I'm not doing this just out of charity. You _did_ wreck my web, even if you didn't know it was mine."

"Ah... right."

"Well, like I said, Lady Satori will want to take a look into your heart and see just what's going on for herself. One of the most well-known oni from below has gone, and your appearance and strange story are pretty well-timed with it. She and her friend were talking about going to another world, and... well, I won't lie to you, this all fits together too well, I think. If there's a tie to what's been going on here with you, then we've got a mutual interest." She put her hands on her hips, falling silent for a moment or two as they continued their walk. She piped up rather suddenly. "Besides, killing you outright probably would've just caused more trouble than it was worth."

Rarity looked aghast at her. "Excuse me? I believe I was the one who had you bound and helpless."

"You weren't paying attention to how quickly I got out of my web when I got to it, were you?" Yamame looked to Rarity. "I guess I'll give it to you that you don't know about danmaku rules here, but if I used my power over disease and illness, never mind my regular strength, you'd be readily wrapped in my web by now while I decided what kind of way I wanted to eat you. Don't get cocky just because you didn't play by the rules, ignorance or not."

"And what are these ru-" Rarity fell stone silent. All of the sudden, it felt as though something were staring into her soul, with no shortage of malice at that. She turned her head over her shoulder, staring quietly back at the empty bridge behind them.

"Are you coming?" Yamame asked. Rarity turned to face her, seeing a bit of concern on her face. "Everything alright?"

"Y... yes, everything's fine." Rarity took a breath, urging inner calm as she walked forward. "Simple stress from a long night, I suppose."

"Well, the sooner we get to Lady Satori's, the sooner you'll be able to get some rest, I bet. Let's go."

Rarity followed, perhaps a little faster than before. Although it faded, the unease she felt lingered on in the back of her mind. She continued on the path, ignorant of the baneful green eyes set upon her from just below the bridge.

* * *

><p>It was hard to say exactly what it felt like to return to the waking world. Rainbow Dash first registered consciousness after what seemed to be a timeless sleep. She shifted her position blindly, and quickly came to realize her mistake as her body protested by seizing in pain. Everything from her head to her toes hurt, ranging from dull aches to excruciating agony stemmed from her back and into her right wing.<p>

_So my epic crash and burn wasn't a dream... Too bad about that part where the Wonderbolts and I whipped that stupid fox and saved Equestria._ Rainbow eased her eyes open; the world was blurred around her, but gradually came into focus. Deciding it best to properly survey her new surroundings, she bit her lip, braced her hands against the plush material beneath her, and pushed. Oh, it hurt. Her body groaned against her in protest, or perhaps she did, but she was up. As her vision grew clearer, however, she found herself at an even greater loss than before. She sat awake in a room that looked as though it belonged somewhere in Canterlot, or perhaps out of one of Rarity's fantasies. Everything seemed so posh, so fancy. Hand-carved mahogany furniture, linens of pure silk that must have had a thread count into four digits, a piece or two of fine art in the room for atmosphere, and candelabras of gold mounted on the walls. Where ever she was, it was high profile.

She was dressed to match, as she gazed upon herself. Someone had gone to the trouble of changing her from her thrashed clothes into a white, sleeveless nightgown. Although the simple dress bared her arms, they were otherwise covered in bandages, freshly changed and dressed neatly at that. She paused, remembering what happened to her left arm, and rotated it cautiously. It ached to be sure, but was by no means providing her the level of agony it had when she was at the mercy of that psychotic brat. Any doubts she had about her care were silenced as she looked over her shoulder, seeing her badly burnt wing wrapped. The worst of the pain came when she moved it, but it seemed as if she owed someone her thanks, whoever it was responsible for all this, anyways.

_Still,_ she thought, looking herself over again with a frown of disapproval. _I can't stand this frilly crap._ Another quick survey of the room and she found her clothes, folded neatly on a nearby arm chair. Sliding to the edge of the bed, she lowered her feet gingerly to the floor. The rainbow haired girl lifted her weight from the mattress, settled it on her legs...

And proceeded to fall to her knees with a thud. She placed her hands on her legs, contemplating her situation. Weak, injured, in an unknown place after Celestia only knew how long. She was alive, her wounds treated and healing, and seemed to be well taken care of. Her friends...

_Oh horse apples,_ she thought, eyes widening. _Fluttershy and the others, are they here?!_ Newfound concern seemed to get her adrenaline going. The last she had seen, her two friends had fallen unconscious after the blonde child, Flandre, had been dispatched to Luna only knew where, sparing she and Gilda's lives. Then the fox appeared once more before them. That's all she focused on, her friends and that sorry bitch. With her new urgency, she found reserves to push to her feet. Stripping and changing was a trial, the range of movements stressing her wounds, but she pushed past it. Her outfit was mended in some places with obvious stitching and patchwork, and in others so tattered and torn there was no saving them. Not the end of the world, though Rarity would have thought so. That fox though, Ran, would regret everything.

Once more in familiar attire, she next found it in her to walk. To move required the support of the furniture and wall, bracing her body on them with each step, but she reached the door. A turn of the knob, and she stepped out of the room and into the hall beyond. The corridor reached out in either direction, each direction housing at least a dozen more rooms, likely similar to the one she was in. With no great inclination toward either way, she turned left and set off. The slow pace at which she moved was torturous, and the pain in her back served only to frustrate her further. She wanted to find out where she was, where the others were, and get everything right again as soon as possible. Had Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack been grabbed as well? Were they in this place with them, where ever it was? Were they back in Ponyville, ignorant of all that had happened, or perhaps searching madly for their lost comrades? Or had something entirely different that she couldn't begin to fathom occurred? She wore her bravado and fearlessness as a badge of pride, but her loyalty to her friends had left her with a deep-seated fear of some horrible fate that may have befallen them. She had to get back, immediately.

She first had to navigate the house, though, and frustration coupled with impatience was not helping matters. For some time, it seemed, she travelled the halls, turning where ever it seemed appropriate. From the windows she passed along the way, she could see forest, a lake, mountains in the distance, and the sky cradling the setting sun. She was up high, as well, three stories at a glance. The grounds were surrounded by a brick and mortar perimeter, lined with iron rivets. Whoever this place belonged to, they were well off.

A few minutes and a few corners later, Rainbow Dash finally found some sign of life. A young girl, dressed in what looked to be a blue and white maid's garb, was wiping down windows with a worn, wet rag.

_Finally,_ she thought, stepping forward. "Hey!" Her voice came out weaker, wearier than she had intended, but it carried, getting the attention of who she safely assumed was the servant of the house. She watched her turn... no, spin. Something was strange. Reaching up and rubbing her eyes, she took note of a detail she knew she ought to have noticed from the start. This little girl was floating, bearing only paper thin, translucent wings that shimmered in the dim light of the hall. Reaching up and brushing at one of her own vibrantly colored bangs, she stared with no small amount of awe.

"I, is there something I can help you with?" The girl answered timidly, shaking Rainbow from her stupor.

"Uh... you..." She shook her head. "Nevermind... Listen, I need to find... to find... ugh..."

"A, are you alright miss?"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond, instead opting to clutch her head. The world tilted back and forth, before finally tipping completely to one side and slamming into her. The weary once-Pegasus wondered why the winged maid started speaking in gibberish; how strange. More disconcerting was the sudden exhaustion that overtook her. Why had she grown so tired so quickly? Well, it was of no matter. She needed to find her friends first and liberate herself from the exuberantly built home. First, though, she'd just rest her eyes for a few moments...

* * *

><p>"-ouli, I've found the salve you wanted."<p>

"Thank you... Oh, it seems she's stirring..."

Once again, Rainbow Dash awoke. How many times was this going to happen, lapsing in and out of consciousness? At least this time, it was easier to gather her bearings. She couldn't shake a strange sensation of floating, but she imagined that it would fade in time. Her eyes opened to a world tinted in violet light. All around her, as far as the eye could see, were bookshelves, towering like buildings themselves. Naturally, the roof was further up, but so far beyond the light around she could only spy darkness in its reaches. Rainbow made a move to shift her body, but found herself quickly snapped back into place.

Now things were getting weird again.

"You shouldn't do that," a soft, halfway frail voice advised at her side. Although her head could not turn, her eyes were fine to move. They turned, and she beheld a woman with a full head of violet hair, dressed in pale pink and purple robes that appeared more bedclothes than anything, the headgear like a nightcap atop her head aiding in that observation. She was pale, and looked somewhat sickly, but moved with purpose as she rubbed a hand smeared with something over Rainbow's injured wing. The fast-flying girl noted she could feel nothing; she was not yet sure if that was a blessing or curse.

"Who..." she paused, pleasantly surprised she could at least speak, before continuing. "Who are you...? Are you the one who took care of me?"

"If you're asking if I own this house, I do not," the frail girl frankly. "I am a resident here, but not the mistress. I have, though, treated the worst of your injuries." She sighed, turning to something lower down, before looking back and setting her hands upon the wing. She began to speak in a strange language that was unfamiliar to Rainbow Dash, and as the words poured from her mouth, the substance on her wing illuminated. It took a moment or two, but the glow faded and the chanting stopped. Taking what seemed to be a labored breath, she turned. "Bring her down, Koakuma."

Rainbow Dash did not know what she first meant, but almost immediately experienced the sensation of descent. The violet tint that washed over her sight grew dim as well, until she felt her back rest on something cold, and the light faded all together, giving what felt to be a proper field of sight. At that same instant, Rainbow Dash could move again, and sat upright, suffering little more than a few winces this time along the way.

"I'm... I'm healed?" Rainbow muttered, awestruck.

"Your most serious injuries are," the woman responded. "You were bleeding internally from wounds you suffered before your arrival. I'd closed them initially, but you were frail when we first found you. All of your creeping around re-opened them. You should have a more permanent fix this time, but I'd advise you to take it slow and let your body adjust from the process."

"And... you're a doctor?"

"Not by specialty." She approached, grabbing at Rainbow's right wing, the injured one, and beginning to flex it. She expected to jump back from pain, but instead, felt the smooth, clean movement she'd known all her life restored. Looking aside, she saw a bald appendage, flesh-colored with little bumps visible beneath it. A few strands of sky blue protruded, but nothing that could be noticed without taking a good look. "However, I've done more complex work before. Your injuries were relatively simple in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't as if this wing had been sheared straight from your back."

The thought sent a chill through the bearer of Loyalty. She dismissed it, and looked around, spying nearby a red-headed woman in what looked like a secretary's uniform, with fiery red hair, yellow eyes... and bat wings sprouting from the crown of her head and small of her back. The accompanying spade-tipped tail snaking from a special accommodation in the back of her skirt raised further questions. She gathered up a variety of books and supplies, tidying them up and carting them off.

"Who... are you people?"

"Demons," she said flatly, grabbing a couple of books of her own, before taking a sip out of a fine tea cup that had been sitting on another table nearby, "and masters of. Here in Gensokyo, however, we're more commonly referred to as 'youkai' for our supernatural traits. While you're here, you'll do well to remember that. My name is Patchouli Knowledge, a magician." She made an offhanded gesture to the winged woman, walking to a desk adjacent to where Rainbow had been sitting and lying her books atop it. "That is my familiar, Koakuma."

"W, wait, wait a minute, slow down!" Rainbow couldn't believe she just said that, but the situation certainly called for it. "Gensokyo? You mean... that, that _fox's_ world?"

"Who you hate." She looked over her shoulder, her expression even and unflinching. "I'm surprised a neon-colored horse is capable of that. Though, you should be focusing more of your energy upon her mistress if you're truly looking for the source."

"Not a horse, a _po-_," Rainbow stopped, staring at Patchouli in silence. Her head canted to one side. "Wait a minute, how did you know about-"

"Let's get this denial out of the way now," Patchouli cut her off, gathering notes and beginning to sort them. "Your name is Rainbow Dash. You live in the sky in your world, in a country known as Equestria, on a cloud-formed city aptly named Cloudsdale. Your special abilities include flying at insanely high speeds and performing a move called a Sonic Rainboom, which would be classified as bomb-type danmaku here for its shot-wiping capabilities, never mind the sheer destructive force. You are also a member of a group of six who bear the responsibilities of handling legendary artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony, your responsibility in the sextet as the Element of Loyalty." Patchouli turned, approaching her again, looking her straight in the face. There was no pride or cockiness, only simple, deadpan fact. "In summary of why I know all of this, I'll simply say that I used my magic to search through your memories as you slept after passing out in the hallway to save time. It's a technique known as scrying, one your friend Twilight should be familiar with if you ever see her again. You had answers to my friend's questions, and you were well enough to survive the invasive portions of the process."

"Okay..." Rainbow seemed pacified; a little dumbstruck, but pacified. "But... what do you mean 'well enough'?"

"The residual shock to your body from intrusion into your mind could have sent you into a vegetative state. You were weak, physically and spiritually. If you died, or fell comatose, there would have been little we could learn from you." Patchouli's expression became grave, as she gathered her arms and crossed them. "Your encounter with Flandre was the chief note."

"Flan..." A new alarm rang through Rainbow Dash. Hasty to act, and even quicker to jump to conclusions, she glared at Patchouli. "That little monster's yours then!"

"She's the sister of the mansion's mistress," Patchouli said. "Remi's going to want to have-"

"It's _your_ fault that everything happened!"

The speed of the accusation took the witch back, even for all the mind reading she had apparently done. Rainbow Dash was quick on her feet, striding the short distance between them as she reached for her gown. "Why did you sic her on us?! What did-"

In the next instant, Rainbow Dash was on the floor, aching, with the arm she'd been reaching for Patchouli with twisted behind her back. She didn't even remember falling, let alone being subdued.

"It's poor manners to assault your hosts," a new woman's voice said from above, no, atop her. Rainbow's head twisted around, and she spied the silver head of hair belonging to a stern, yet clearly well-composed, maid. "If you don't behave yourself, I'll be forced to clip your wings, do you understand?"

If only to emphasize the point, the glint of a dagger was visible out the corner of Rainbow Dash's eyes. The message was made clear in that instant; she was outmatched and in no condition to even try to resist. A soft nod earned her release as the maid stood, straightening her blouse and skirt, while the fast flyer rose gingerly to her feet.

"Thank you, Sakuya," Patchouli said with no great inflection of special care or gratitude. "I assume your presence means Remi wants to be alone right now."

"The mistress has requested her privacy, yes." Sakuya spoke formally, her face solemn. "The little mistress' disappearance was bad enough news. That she's acting out in this other world is quite troublesome, especially with no means to reach it. We can only hope for the best at this point."

"So it would seem," the mage agreed. Turning, she walked to a rather plush chair nearby, easing herself into it. "Did you bring any tea?"

"I anticipated that you might desire some after your efforts," Sakuya said, bowing at the waist with a smile, gesturing with a hand to a dolly sporting a pot, steaming from its spout, and a handful of cups arranged with an artistic flare around. A small tray of biscuits was present next to it as a snack. "I would have laid them out sooner, but my attention was drawn to other business."

"The perfect maid indeed," she mused, smiling thinly and leaning her head into one hand. The other thrust at Rainbow Dash, a finger pointing at her. "Sit, we're going to eat."

"Yeah, uh, thanks," Rainbow started, before turning and starting to walk, "but I've gotta get out of here. My friends are waiting for me."

Before she knew it, she was walking back. Her eyes widened, and she nearly stumbled and fell. She wasn't sure what had happened. The maid, Sakuya, was already handing a cup of hot tea to the mage who had healed her, and her 'familiar' was serving the biscuits. Shaking her head, she turned on her heel and walked away again.

This time she tripped into a chair, catching herself with her hands on a table; the same table Patchouli sat at, giving her an amused look. Rainbow Dash stared hard at her, before, twisting and taking off in a sprint. Even on the ground, she was fast. She'd clear whatever was happening now before it could act.

Except now she spilled headlong onto the table she'd been lying prone over when she awoke, the wind knocked out of her from the impact. Sucking in a few breaths, she looked to see a cup of tea held before her, and a small plate with a biscuit.

"I would advise you to eat," Sakuya remarked nonchalantly. "You lost quite a bit of blood in your activities up to this point."

Rainbow Dash stared up at her, clueless as to what happened, what was keeping her there. Whatever it was, she wasn't getting away just yet. Begrudgingly, the rainbow-headed girl took the food and drink. As she took a bite of her biscuit, she watched the maid push something round and brass down into the pocket of her apron. Thinking little of it, she took a quick drink, and nearly spat as the still-smoking liquid hit her tongue, instead forcing herself to swallow as it burned all the way down.

"Careful," Sakuya cautioned. "It's hot."

* * *

><p>Reisen Udongein Inaba was certainly looking at what would be the last hours of her life. She lay back in the living area of Eientei, staring up at the ceiling with a listless gaze in her eyes. The rabbits of Eientei had searched high and low, spread wide and far across Gensokyo. There were many of them, dozens at least, so it was no great task to reach out as far as the Sanzu Riverside. Yet even the ferrywoman of the dead had seen no one matching Princess Kaguya's description.<p>

When her master returned, she was sure to die.

_I've lived a good life_, she thought to herself. _I mean, I did run away from the moon during the Lunar Wars... Sure, I'm as far of an outcast as you can get, but I've been blessed. They took me into their home, fed me, clothed me, Master taught me so much about her medicines, and this is how I repay her. By losing the princess._ She heaved a sigh, closing her eyes. _I'll accept it gracefully. A quiet death... Maybe she'll make me do it myself. I mean, we are in this 'Japan' nation, even in Gensokyo, it wouldn't be wrong._

Pushing up on her palms, she sat up, her ears flopping down over her eyes. She was so weak of heart from all that had occurred, they just wouldn't rise up on their own. She just knew it was the end. Eirin lavished Kaguya as if she had not been living in exile, and they all treated her as such. Reisen would have been a fool to think anything less of the princess, regardless of her transgressions in the past.

She'd worked hard for the house, too. She assisted Eirin in treatment, waited on the princess' needs as they reared their heads. She helped tend to the other rabbits, and even made good company in Tewi, even if sometimes she suffered for it at hands of the mischievous little rabbit's pranks. She'd even gone out investigating at their behest on a few incidents, the ones that they hadn't had a hand in. If anything, she could expect a mercifully quick end.

_Tewi still should've been here,_ she thought sourly. She was just as responsible for the current situation as Reisen. She could have seen where the princess went, or who went off with her, or, or anything! Reisen sighed, standing up and straightening out her skirt.

_Still, taking her with me wouldn't do anyone any good,_ she thought, approaching the door to the hall. She couldn't wish that on her either, regardless. Perhaps the soldier had grown soft, but Tewi, for all she could be at her worst, was trustworthy and reliable at her best, and the only real friend that she could say she had. Sliding the door open, she stepped out into the hall.

Abruptly, the rabbit slammed into something, reaching up and clutching her face where it had hit a hard object. A squeak reached her ears, and she shook her head, staring at a pink-headed woman with yellow feathered wings.

"O, oh, I, I'm so sorry," she stammered, as if she had been caught in with her hand in the vegetable patch. "I, I've been lost, and haven't seen anyone, and I thought if I looked through this house I might-"

"I, I get it, I get it," Reisen cut her off, waving her free hand with a gesture that dismissed any concerns. "You're that one Tewi brought in, right?"

"T, Tewi?" She cocked her head, unsure, and still incredibly timid. Had Reisen scared her? Maybe it was her eyes, though she wasn't using her lunatic powers. It all felt incredibly awkward, before a familiar, white figure cropped up from under the girl's hair, chittering in what had quickly been established as his standard attitude.

"You guys just got up, huh?" she restated what the smaller one had told her. The girl stared in amazement, looking to Angel, and then back. Again, Reisen was at a loss. "Uh..."

"You... understand Angel?"

"Well... of course." The lilac-haired rabbit pointed atop her head at the ears, smiling a bit. "We're the same... mostly."

"You're... oh, you're a bunny?!"

Well, that got her to relax quickly enough.

"Um, rabbit, but, yes. My name's Reisen Udongein Inaba. Reisen will work fine though. What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Fluttershy, it's a true pleasure." She was absolutely beaming now, stepping forward. "You're not like any bunny... um, rabbit, I've ever seen, though." She walked around her, appraising her. Reisen stood stock still, unsure of what to do as the girl looked her up and down. She gasped, jumping forward a bit as she felt fingertips on her tail.

"E, excuse me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Fluttershy was hasty to apologize, looking regretful and clasping her hands together over her mouth. "D, did I hurt you? Normally others don't have a problem, but, I, I thought-"

"N, no, just... well..." Reisen blushed. While someone touching her tail was bizarre, though not unpleasant, she couldn't even find it in herself to chide this unusual stranger. Just at a glance, she thought the girl would cry if she came down on her. Taking another breath, she gestured to the table, smiling awkwardly. "How about we sit down and talk, instead? I think it'd be good to get to know each other a bit."

"Oh... that sounds pleasant." The pink-haired girl smiled, approaching the table. Tucking her skirt down, she sat demurely on the floor, hands in her lap. Angel leapt from her shoulder and onto the table as Reisen sat herself across from them.

_Oh well,_ she thought, leaning onto her arms and smiling. _This'll be a welcome distraction from thinking about what's going to happen once Master gets back._ "So, you really like animals I take it?"

"Absolutely," Fluttershy said with a smile, stroking Angel between the ears. He seemed to be embarrassed by the notion, but allowed her to continue regardless. "In fact, it's my job to take care of creatures. They can be so gentle and sweet, but they're delicate, and sensitive, too. So, I take extra care not to startle them. It's really very satisfying, seeing them happy and well."

_She's enthusiastic about her work._ Reisen smiled, folding her hands together. "I've never known anyone who just took care of animals around here. Perhaps you and my Master could speak once she returns. I'm sure you both have a lot in common. Do you practice medicine?"

"Oh, no, I'm afraid that's beyond me," Fluttershy said modestly. "However, I do know some deep massage techniques to help treat muscle and bone problems. I know a few in home remedies, you see."

"That's still very impressive though. Hey, what part of Gensokyo are you from?"

Fluttershy blinked, looking at the lunar rabbit oddly. Reisen met her gaze with her own lack of confidence and understanding.

"Um... did I ask something strange?"

"No, just..." Her eyes lit up, as if she suddenly comprehended things. "This... is Gensokyo?"

"Yes...?" Reisen wasn't sure what to make of this. Suddenly, Fluttershy began to tremble, and fear grew prevalent in her gaze.

"Are... are you with that blonde woman? Oh dear..."

"W, wait, I didn't mean to scare you. I mean, I've never seen a youkai like you, none of us have, so-"

"I, I'm not a, a 'youkai', I'm a Pegasus! I, I mean I was. Then I became a human, and... Oh…!"

She was growing flustered faster than Reisen could make sense of it. What had she done this time? She waved her hands frantically, trying to get her attention, to get her to stop upsetting herself.

_What kind of human comes with wings anyhow?_ She couldn't help the thought, but pressed her hands down on the table and leaned across it. "Please, please don't be upset! It's just, I've never seen a person... 'Pegasus', like you, so... you've got to understand, I'm just trying to get a grasp of the situation, so I can help you."

Well, that sounded better than that she was trying to keep her from breaking down into an emotional heap. Fluttershy stared at her, studying her quietly for a moment, before taking a couple of deep breaths and urging calm upon herself. Peace had been restored for the moment, and the opportunity to press on emerged.

"Now... what blonde woman are you talking about?"

Perhaps the next hour was spent in discussion over the events that had led up to the current point. Questions were posed and answered, only to be replaced by more. Reisen was no stranger to alien worlds; the earth was tantamount to one as far as she was concerned. However, everything happening was on a much grander scale than any mere incident that had befallen Gensokyo in recent history. The mere explanation about how their world functioned was enough to feed Reisen's mind for some time; its changes and Yukari Yakumo's involvement sped things further.

It occurred to her that just by having Fluttershy in their house, she was already in way over her head.

"It, um... it really sounds like you've been through a lot." Reisen didn't know what else to say at this point, dumbstruck by all of that information. Perhaps the girl was just crazy. Tewi had found her lying in the forest, perhaps she was sick or delusional. "Tell you what, how about we get some tea and move onto a better topic?"

"That does sound nice," Fluttershy said, "but I'm afraid I can't. I have to find a way back to my friends. M, maybe they're here, just, lost?"

"Well, that's possible." Reisen propped an arm up and rested her chin in the crook of her hand. "Do you even know where to begin looking though?"

"I..." Fluttershy stalled, staring with an immediate sense of helplessness, before she bowed her head, bangs falling over her right eye as she began to fidget.

"I don't mean to discourage you, just..." She sighed, rising from the table and walking around. She offered a hand out to the girl, smiling warmly. Even if this other world were some delusion, she was adamant about her friends. "Let's get some tea, we can calm down, and think about where to start."

Fluttershy raised her eyes, gazing at the rabbit with a spark of hope. "You'd be willing to help me? I'd hate to impose anymore..."

"My master's a doctor, helping people is just the nature of things." Reisen felt the gentle hand of the girl meet her own, and she clasped it, pulling her to her feet. _Besides, with someone like you wandering lost in Gensokyo, I don't think I could sleep... How can someone be that innocent?_

"Thank you, Reisen," Fluttershy said, a true smile coming to her lips. "I would really appreciate your help."

The rabbit nodded, watching Angel leap from the table and into Fluttershy's arms before scampering up to her shoulders. Turning on a heel, she gestured for the girl to follow. The kitchen wasn't far, but Eientei's halls were long, and could be befuddling even without her powers over lunacy complicating things. With Fluttershy behind her, they exited the room.

Reisen next found the wind knocked out of her and her body sprawled out on the floor. She gasped, holding her gut and trembling a bit as she saw one of Tewi's earth rabbits clutching her head, knelt on the floor.

_Today is not a good day for me and doorways._ Reisen sighed, taking a breath to steady herself as Fluttershy knelt at her side. With a gesture to assure she was fine, she instead rolled onto the balls of her feet, near the little rabbit girl. "What's wrong? Why're you in such a hurry?"

"I was, ow..." She winced and rubbed at her backside, twisting to sit on her legs rather than stand immediately. "Tewi said to find you... She said it was urgent."

"She wasn't off on another walk in the forest, was she?" Reisen's voice could not have been more deadpan. What would the girl have for her next, a dragon?

"No, it's the teacher from the human village. She brought... something."

Reisen gave the earth rabbit a strange look, before rising. Offering her hand out and taking the small girl's own, she pulled her to her feet with a sigh. The teacher in name required no introduction. While a companion of the immortal rival of Princess Kaguya, she was level headed and favored at least a more neighborly attitude between the two women if at all possible. If she had decided to make the trek through the forest to pay Eientei a visit, it was worth the time to see her. Reisen's head turned, offering Fluttershy a regretful smile.

"I'm sorry, it looks like the tea's going to have to wait."

"It's no trouble," Fluttershy reassured with a genuine smile. "Would you mind if I followed you? This house is so big, and it's good to have friendly company."

Well, there didn't seem to be any harm in that. Reisen nodded, and wordlessly stepped off. The little rabbit hurried just ahead of her, leading the way through the winding halls of the great house. Their path led them to the veranda at the front of the home. Tewi, waiting in the doorway, gestured quietly to where the teacher stood, shouting what sounded like a plea at something.

"-you don't come out, we can't help you!" The teacher sighed, shoulders sagging beneath the flared sleeves of her blue dress and white blouse. Her hair, a blue so light it was near white, was disheveled, and the large box-shaped hat atop her head threatened to slip off before she reached up to adjust it. Glancing back over her shoulder, she offered a weary smile to Reisen. "Good afternoon, and I'm sorry for the intrusion. I wasn't aware you had company."

"It's no trouble," Reisen said, stepping forward to the edge of the wooden walk. Turning her head back, she gestured to the woman. "Fluttershy, Angel, this is Keine Kamishirasawa. She's the teacher at the human village here. Keine, this is Fluttershy and Angel, our guests."

As Angel made a quick nod from her shoulder, Fluttershy smiled and shrank back simultaneously; it seemed that she really did live up to that name of hers. "It's a pleasure, Keine."

"Likewise, to both of you. I'm sorry to be rude, but, I need to speak with Eirin. Is she available?"

Reisen heaved a sigh, her shoulders sagging. "I'm afraid not. Master left earlier yesterday and hasn't yet returned. Perhaps I can help though, did something happen at the village?"

"Well, that's half of the reason I'm here." Keine folded her arms across her chest. "A strange girl with white hair and large wings crashed down in the middle of the village the other night. She's been unconscious since, and the local doctors have treated what they could, but she's hurt badly. I was hoping that there was some medicine we could give her, or procedure that may help her recover."

"I understand. I'd have to give her a look before I could make any judgments of my own, but if she's stable, we can likely do something for her. If you give me time to gather some supplies, I can help." It's not like she had anything to do anyways. The search for Kaguya had turned up nothing. Something was familiar about how this girl appeared, at any rate. Maybe a few clues were lying about, or the happenings shared enough details that she might find something that could save her skin. "You said this was only half of the reason, though?"

Keine sighed, looking back around the corner of the house. Reisen's eyes followed, just in time to see a head of hair disappear back around the corner.

"Excuse me a moment, she's being difficult." The teacher walked toward the corner and vanished behind it. There was some distant muttering that the ex-soldier could catch, but not make out. After a moment or two, the voices picked up in pitch.

"-changed my mind, I'll figure this out myself!"

"But your duties are being neglected and they could have the answer! You should at least try!"

"I can't be seen like this, it's humiliating!"

Reisen stared ahead, her eyes wide. The argument continued in that manner, long enough for her to double back inside and step into her loafers before walking out to the corner Keine had disappeared around. What lay in wait for her was more than simply astonishing. Keine was engaged in an argument with a small, equine figure.

A small, talking equine figure that had the Hakurei shrine maiden's voice hissing angry whispers from its snout.

"-and if Marisa ever hears about this, then _I'll_ never hear the end of it! I already have trouble with bringing worshippers to the shrine, what'll happen when they find out that I've become a _horse?!_"

"I think you're more of a pony actually, Reimu."

"That's not the point!"

"That aside..." Keine trailed off, looking to the side. The silence was near tangible. Reimu's head turned, and there was no small amount of horror, or indignant rage, settled in her large, ash-gray eyes. If the coat of fur covering her body weren't already red, she was sure she'd see her flushing with embarrassment and anger. Her mane and tail were both black, as her hair had been as a human, and, whether some strange fashion choice or consequence of the transformation, her sleeves were on her forelegs. Branded into her hind quarters on either side were the familiar image of her yin-yang orbs, and the longer Reisen looked, the harder Reimu stared.

"Don't. You. Dare."

It was too late. If anything, hearing her speak was the final nail in the coffin. Unable to control herself after one of the longest days of her life, Reisen burst into laughter, echoing loud and long through the reaches of the forest. She laughed until her jaw hurt, until her sides ached and until tears flowed freely from her eyes. After that, she laughed some more, until her legs finally gave out and she fell to her backside in the dirt.

"Are you _done yet?!_" Reimu the pony-priestess bellowed, stamping her hooves down. Reisen had to fight to rein herself in, reaching up and wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I, I'm sorry, just... it's just that, you..." She stared at Reimu again, biting her lip and scrunching her face as she tried to hold in a laugh, and began to fail.

"If you start again there is no amount of power between here and the moon that's going to stop me from trampling you!"

Reisen took that as her cue, nodding and sucking in a few deep breaths. By this point, Fluttershy had made her own approach, Tewi in tow with an eyebrow cocked.

"Reisen, what the heck are you laughing abou-"

Reisen knew it the moment that Tewi saw it that the second round was coming.

"Don't-"

Tewi took even less time to break into a stream of laughs, though she managed to actually speak.

"Th, the priestess?! She's a _horse?!"_ Tewi slapped a hand over her eyes, either ignorant of uncaring for the eyes that swore revenge on the rabbit.

"You're ticking me off with all this, I didn't come here to be laughed at by two stupid youkai rabbits!"

"Oh, yeah, hate to face your _unbridled_ fury!" It was a terrible joke, but the little earth rabbit did not seem apt to care, as she simply continued her laughter. In the heat of it all, Reisen started again, laughing alongside her. "Should we just take the top off your donation box and fill it with oats now? I guess if you've got any coin left at the shrine we should see about getting you a good pair of horse shoes, too!"

The laughter stopped rather spontaneously as an eruption of spiritual force literally tore through the ground in front of them. It was no secret to anyone that the Hakurei lineage boasted impressive spiritual power, as such justified their role in the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier and continued watch over Gensokyo. Reimu was no exception to the rule, and judging by the look in her eyes that edged ever closer to a hateful blood rage, she was preparing to demonstrate it.

"That's enough, both of you!" One of the others spoke up, although it was not Keine, who had only begun trying to talk Reimu down. Fluttershy stepped forward, her eyes narrowed at the two rabbits. "How can you treat her like this?! She's come to you for help, and here you are, laughing at her expense like she deserves this kind of ridicule! You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Reisen wanted to justify herself to Fluttershy. Although she was right, after the defeat she had suffered at the hands of Reimu's spell cards during their first encounter a few years back, the laugh had been more cathartic than anything. Still, for whatever reason, she found herself abashed by the scolding she'd just received. Even Tewi seemed to have flinched away, though she simply folded her arms and took up a pout.

Fluttershy appeared satisfied by the looks on their faces and the lack of jovial laughter from either of them. With much of her frustration behind her, she turned, kneeling before the red pony. "I can't believe it though... I thought everyone was changed back in Equestria."

Reimu, calmed significantly with the laughter over and done, looked at her strangely. "What's Equestria? ... Wait, I know you. You're one of those girls that Yukari brought here! You're the reason I'm like this?!"

Reisen gaped, looking to Keine. The teacher seemed to know no more than she, but focused absolutely upon the conversation. A talking, bright red pony that was the Hakurei shrine maiden? Yukari Yakumo's open involvement confirmed by said pony? There was no longer a question about it in her mind, Reisen was in completely over her head, and beyond the point of return.

* * *

><p>The Brain of the Moon, Eirin Yagokoro, was by no means easily led on. She had centuries of experience to back her, both in dealings with mortal folk and non, Lunarian and Earthling, Human and Youkai. She was brilliant, as her moniker would lead one to believe, capable of creating medicines that most folk could only dream of, and had power to match her mind. Trifling with her was certain to lead to ill things for whoever made such trespass.<p>

Yet somehow, she found herself farther away from home than even she would ever have imagined. Currently staged in the dusty ruin of a recently devastated frontier town, Appleloosa if she recalled correctly, Eirin took patients into the wee hours of the morning. She had been host to dozens of injured in merely the last two days, moving into the third, and had found little room for sleep, but worked fervently as ever. The long, silver braid of hair that nearly brushed the ground had begun to fall loose at her back, and the red and blue, constellation-embroidered cap and gown she wore were marked with signs of her work; blood, sweat, general filth from travelling in a world where flight came to her with far more challenge than it had in Gensokyo, where the energy was better spent on her patients.

She finished setting a cast for a child's arm, broken badly after a beam had come crashing down on it. Finishing laying the cast, she looked to the child's mother and smiled a weary smile, matching the heavy gaze in her dark gray eyes. Offering out a bag to her, she watched the mother take it.

"Give her this medicine three times daily, with each meal. In about a week, the cast will be ready to come off."

The mother looked at her in awe, as if she had spoken in another tongue.

"Just a week?"

"It's a very good medicine. Just make sure that she's getting her rest as well."

"Thank you, Doctor," the mother said, holding her child in her arms. The little girl hugged onto her, gazing over her shoulder and smiling a weary smile of her own. "You only got here last night, and yet..."

"I'm simply doing my job," Eirin reassured her, dismissing her with a wave. "Go on now, I'm sure your little one's quite tired." She watched as the mother and daughter departed, before turning in her seat and sighing. That was the last one of the night, with the majority of the village accounted for. With all of the emergencies taken care of, she quite looked forward to a night's sleep. Medicine and drive were well and fine, but she knew they could not best the benefits of rest with pillow and blanket accompanying her. She looked to the bag she had brought along, certain she had packed another dress and her robe. She would slip into the latter for sleep as soon as she cleaned up her temporary office in the burned out schoolhouse she was staying in. There wasn't much in the way of safe architecture at the moment, but it certainly beat sleeping on the ground outside.

As she began to gather and sort her supplies, however, the door opened once more. Eirin turned her head, gazing on a young woman that made her approach, dressed similarly to several of the other women in the town; a plain, yellow dress, embroidered with three pies across the front of the skirt, and a white bonnet atop her head, covering a reasonable amount of green hair that reached down to her waist. Her eyes were a striking shade of gold, one that stood out even among these folk.

"Are you the last one for the evening?" Eirin returned to sorting out her supplies, discarding what was trash and stowing what was good.

"Yes ma'am," the girl said, a bit of a country drawl prominent in her voice. "Mah name's Apple Pie, an'-"

"You can drop the act." Eirin continued on, capping several bottles of disinfectants and antibiotics before stashing them back into her bag. The girl was stunned by the curtness, clearly, as she pressed on as she had been.

"Ah, Ah came to-"

"Talk to me about your situation, of course." Eirin rewrapped a gauze roll, more concerned with it than the current farce. "Your choice of clothes is well enough at least, no one here would think any differently of you. However, you've fallen out of practice. You need to mask yourself better if you intend to deceive me."

Apple Pie stared at her a moment, incredulous and without words to respond. In the end, she simply chuckled, approaching quietly and taking the seat adjacent to her. "I'll wait, then," she said, her voice changed now. The innocent, country accent had been replaced by that of a mature woman, concise and clear.

Eirin smiled, continuing to clean for several moments, wiping down surfaces she had operated on earlier, already disinfected, but prevention of infection or the spread of disease was championed in extra steps in cleanliness, especially in what was already far from a sterile environment. She had kept her guest fifteen, perhaps twenty minutes in silence, before returning to sit before her, pouring herself a glass of the iced tea that one of the townsfolk had brought her earlier in the heat of the day. Taking a long drink to refresh herself, she set it aside on the table afterwards, picking up a clipboard and beginning to note the day's business.

"How's the situation now... Apple Pie, was it?" She flashed a wry smile, flicking her eyes up to the woman, who only chuckled.

"The ambassador of Klawpathos has returned," she said calmly, grabbing a glass of her own and pouring the drink. "You did remarkable work, arriving when you did. Not a single fatality. I'm impressed you were even able to mend those wings."

"It was a compound fracture, no matter how many there were." Eirin scratched away at the paper absent-mindedly, in spite of the smile on her face. She was not so proud that she couldn't appreciate a compliment. "I'd have been here faster were you able to help me again as you did getting here in the first place."

"You know why I can't," Apple Pie said solemnly. She narrowed her eyes, gazing down at the clipboard as the doctor scribbled away on it. "You're likely going to be alone in your business here... Saving lives in this world takes priority over any kind of victory."

"About the Scarlet child, Flandre," Eirin murmured, stopping just momentarily before gazing up out the tops of her eyes. "Where is she now?"

"In the capitol of this country," the green-haired woman said, drawing a drink from her cup before setting it back down on her thigh. "The ruling princesses have her in custody at the moment. She's being well cared for, but guarded heavily. It's not likely she'll simply be breaking free, not without alerting the Princess of the Sun."

"Princess of the Sun, you say," Eirin chimed, looking back down to her clipboard and continuing to write. "I would assume that there is one for the night then as well?"

"That doesn't necessarily need to be the case."

"But there is anyways, isn't there?"

There was silence between them, save the continual drag of pen over paper. It lasted only a moment, and Apple Pie offered a smile. "There is. She's lovely, and powerful, but also badly hurt at the moment."

"Have your escapades involved Princess Kaguya?"

The silence this time was shorter, but the air was thick with tension. Apple Pie took a second to steady herself, closing her eyes and bringing the cup to her lips. It was answer enough for the Brain of the Moon, as she set the pen flat on the clipboard, and the board itself aside on the table.

"I will be straight forward with you, 'Apple Pie'." Eirin grabbed her glass and took a drink of her own, before looking upon her guest with calm eyes; frightful, deadly calm eyes. "Princess Kaguya has been under my protection since you were small. I'm compliant with your terms because I understand how important Gensokyo is to many people. Indeed, even we in Eientei are grateful for the haven we've established for ourselves. However, I want to make one thing perfectly clear." Eirin once more set her glace aside, turned in her seat, and bent over in it, taking hold of her weapon of choice; a long bow, nearly as tall as she was. Sitting upright she began to inspect it for wear. "Regardless of this strange situation, if anything should happen to the princess as a result of your game, there will be consequences."

"I assure you, the princess will not be the one here to suffer defeat if all goes according to plan," she spoke as Eirin turned, looking back at her face. "This world lacks the raw power required to ward off what's coming. Your princess, the immortal, will emerge from this unscathed." Apple Pie closed her eyes, emptying her cup before finally setting it aside. "Gensokyo, however..."

Eirin piqued a brow at the statement. The doctor watched Apple Pie dismiss the words with a shake of her head.

"You need to head to the east tomorrow, toward a small town called Ponyville, on the edge of a great, wild forest. It will take you longer than a day to arrive even if you fly. I would suggest taking the train."

"You can't provide travel for me this time as you did in bringing me here?"

"I was granted use of my mistress' abilities to a limited extent at the time. Your timing and this devastation simply coincided by circumstance."

"Is this also where the next incidents will be occurring?"

Apple Pie shrugged her shoulders, easing her eyes open. "I couldn't honestly say. However, there are those who would benefit from your presence. Wait in that town for two days. If nothing happens, continue on the train again in the same direction toward the capital city of Canterlot."

"Because there's certain to be goings on there."

Apple Pie merely rose from her seat, turning her back and beginning for the door. "I have to put my clothes back where I found them. The owner's none the wiser at the moment, but she'll have questions if she's in the street tomorrow morning."

Eirin stared at the girl's back for a moment, watching as she reached the entryway. The knob twisted, and the door opened with a creak. "Wait."

Apple Pie paused, but did not look back, hand remaining on the knob.

"You didn't answer my question the last time, and I'm not expecting different results this time," she stated, rising to her feet and folding her arms beneath her breasts. "Why, though, are you working against your mistress? What's your goal in undermining her game?"

"I can't say," Apple Pie responded, her hand firm on the door knob. "In time, you'll find out for yourself."

"Of course I will," Eirin said, her tone flat. "You went to the trouble of putting on a beautiful young lady to come and visit me. Why should you tell me anything now? It was my mistake."

"I hope you don't take offense, but in time, you'll see. There are other details that must be worked out before then. Please, continue with your work."

The door shut after that, and Eirin was alone, staring after her guest. She remained on her feet for a moment or two longer, before shaking her head and beginning to undress. Her mind was riddled with questions; what was the purpose of coming to this troublesome little world at all? Terrorizing and transforming its inhabitants, perhaps a game for a night, which could be passed for a bad dream, but the scale was far more grand. What did the missing youkai and shrine maiden back home have to do with things? Why even go to all that trouble, if the fox were to enlist her help behind her mistress' back?

Free of her filthy clothes, Eirin donned her robe, secured a towel and made for the back of the schoolhouse. A tub with water had been set up by the residents earlier in the evening at her request, she merely needed to build a fire to heat it. She would bathe in the heated tub, clear her body and mind of the day's work, and then sleep. Yet as she walked with towel in hand, she found her bow and quiver in the other, slung over her shoulder. The last time she had found need for that reflex was the Lunar War, a millennium in her past, when Youkai threatened to invade the Moon and seize control of it before being driven back. It was a habit she developed to keep herself safe back when such things had the power to shake her, before her self-imposed exile to the Earth to remain by Princess Kaguya's side.

Once again, Eirin found herself on guard at rest, all thanks to the unpredictable actions of the Youkai of Boundaries.


	6. Nocturne

**My Little Illusion**

_Nocturne_

* * *

><p>Reimu Hakurei could not sleep.<p>

The red-white priestess seldom found her slumber disturbed. Little phased her on the surface, and what did manage to rattle her could be managed easily enough in day to day life that coping was no great trial. As the lone priestess of the shrine, she had fought youkai since she was a child, from super-powered evil spirits, to humans with technology far beyond anything Gensokyo had prior seen. There had even been tangles with the residents and keepers of supernatural realms connected to Gensokyo. Thanks to the spell card battle system since those days, combat at large became more merciful, and 'extermination' was simply a term that had carried over from the old traditions. Even so, she still faced powerful foes, be they foreign youkai such as the vampires who settled on the edge of the Misty Lake, or the Celestials in the heavens above, even a few deities that had settled in the illusory world from the real one without. In her short life Reimu had been charged with, and successfully maintained, the balance of an entire world without fail.

Yet it was this night she could not sleep that disturbed her more than any in recent history. Something was particularly wrong, for no reason other than that her intuition told her so. Surrendering to the fact she could not achieve her peaceful slumber, Reimu dressed and took to the sky, gohei clutched in hand in preparation of a midnight patrol.

As she sought the source of her sudden insomnia, she found her mind wandering back to Yukari's home, and the note left in its wake when she departed with it. It had been a month since she had received it, and nothing had happened just yet. The Great Hakurei Barrier had not weakened again in that time, and for that she was grateful. Still, she never learned why it had in the first place. Yukari's existence was as pivotal to Gensokyo's as the priestesses of the Hakurei lineage. Unless she had grown exceedingly weak, or gone a great distance from their world with no contact, it should have been fine. The latter brought Aya's pictures of Yukari's gap to mind, and the strange figure within before it closed. What had the gap youkai been up to?

The moon had crossed from one end of the night sky to the other in the time it took Reimu to search Gensokyo, poring restlessly over every nook and cranny that merited exploration. She had crossed paths with a handful of nocturnal youkai who had nothing to offer in the way of assistance, merely looks of confusion. She had checked the entrances to the Underground, the base of Youkai Mountain, the gates of Hakugyokuro, and found nothing. To go further was pointless, as anything trespassing beyond those points would have roused the guardians of their respective realms.

_If I ever get any cracks about being a lazy shrine maiden after tonight, I'll exterminate them on the spot._ Reimu couldn't think of anyone in particular as she flew, worn down and done. In a few hours the sun would be up, and the priestess would have a new day ahead of her; one she would meet wearily and with a distinct hate for that fiery orb in the sky. She could already see the bright light, burning into her eyes, its brilliant array of colors...

_Oh, crap._

Suddenly alert, Reimu accelerated and veered up, a danmaku array blasting past her. Twisting, she faced its source, her eyes narrowing on the figure of a familiar child frowning defiantly up at her. Chen hovered there before splaying her hands out and unleashing another, wider blast out, the bullets of energy twisting and weaving about in familiar patterns coming at her in a wall.

Reimu drew her spell cards from her sleeve. Two yin-tang orbs, her tools of choice, materialized at her side and focused ahead as she began to spray her own spell fire in retaliation, all the while weaving expertly through the demon cat's assault. The danmaku system was Reimu's invention, and a game she had mastered over the years since she began to play it. Having battled with the cat child on several occasions past, there was no great mystery to her in how she operated. Dipping, bobbing and weaving between the shots, she kept her fire focused on the girl and drew closer in.

"Chen," Reimu shouted over the din of bullet fire, "where's Yukari?!" There was no response, and she expected as much. She'd simply get in close and blow the child's game away there, then interrogate her. She was prepared for the inevitable showing of Chen's first spell card; even flagging from a sleepless night, Reimu would not be denied her answers.

The child paused, however, as Reimu came in close, before turning tail and flying away. The priestess would not allow her quarry to flee so easily. Narrowing her eyes, she weaved through the remaining danmaku and took off as fast as her own magic would carry her in pursuit. As Chen ducked into a tree line below, she followed, her eyes locked on the twin-tailed target. The wordless assault said enough; Yukari had likely hoped to remove her from play without being noticed. She was certain of it, and though she had no inclination as to why, she was going to change that as soon as she got her hands on that cat. Reimu followed her into the thick of the woods, dodging and flying around trees as if they were another wave of danmaku. It was her sole mission to pry the answers from the girl and figure out exactly what Yukari's game was, and stop it if it came to that.

In an instant, the world changed for Reimu. Although forewarned only by an unmistakable tearing sound recognized by experienced ears, there was no time to change course from the sudden dive into the Misty Lake. Before being able to so much as slow the rapid descent, something slammed into her back and sent the priestess crashing at top speed into the depths of the great lake. Dazed and confused, the red-white shrine maiden twisted and broke the surface, gasping and coughing out the water she had inhaled on impact.

"It really was only a matter of time before you got involved."

Reimu spun in the water, gazing up at the nine-tailed fox of the gap youkai. Ran floated overhead, arms tucked away into her sleeves as she gazed down at Reimu coldly. Scowling, the Hakurei shrine maiden rose from the water, soaked to the bone, her gohei snapped from the impact. Tossing the broken tool away, she pulled out several soggy sealing talismans, steam billowing from the papers as she poured spiritual energy into them. Her orbs reformed around her, and her clothes began to dry as she drew upon more power.

"Since when did your mistress start letting you play with her gaps, fox?" Reimu addressed her frigidly, speaking not only for her sudden appearance, but also the six, eye-ridden portals that loomed over her shoulders.

"Since she is too busy to be bothered by the trivial chores her shikigami could otherwise handle with only a few."

The priestess gave a derisive sniff. Yukari had created them, and likely bestowed the power through the link of master and servant for Ran to finish her duties. What they were for was what left her confused. Obviously, there was something that Ran couldn't handle herself without them.

It was only then Reimu's attention turned to a small islet, one of a few in the middle of the lake. Chen was there, tending to four bodies laid out on the beach. Crouched over one with great yellow wings folded against her back, she seemed to be casting a spell; something cat youkai like she were known to do. She gazed strangely upon them, trying to discern if they were human or youkai, before an orb of blue flame burned to life out the corner of her eyes and fired off at her. Reimu ducked back, throwing the talismans and Ran and forcing her to soar to evade them. The gaps followed, no doubt bound to her, and creating a greater target. Swinging a hand in the direction of the fox, she began to spray her own danmaku out in force, watching her take action to avoid the barrage all together rather than simply weave in and out of it. The gaps were undoubtedly important to the nine tails. However, just like its creator and handler, the eye-ridden holes were most certainly vulnerable to the sacred rites of purification that shrine maidens were so well versed in.

In favor of danmaku, however, Ran banked hard and lunged at her, claws out as she skimmed the outside of the attack. The fox was quick, upon her in what seemed an instant before slashing at her face. Reimu's eyes widened and she reeled back, dodging the strike and pulling away from each subsequent blow that followed. She responded quickly, swinging her orbs around in an attempt to beat back the assailant. Ran backed off long enough to summon several orbs of blue fire that raced by her one after the other, each one with exploding against the lake surface below on impact.

"You stupid fox!" Reimu narrowed her eyes, throwing up a protective barrier. As many did, it appeared as one massive, translucent wall painted with Sanskrit text, absorbing several of the opponent's shots before it was dismissed, leaving the priestess to press on the assault again with paper talismans. "Do you really want to be exterminated?!"

"Playing your little game is not a luxury I have tonight, Hakurei shrine maiden!" Ran lunged in again, clutching a fireball in one hand before thrusting it out at Reimu. A wave of blue flame roared forth, swallowing her. Reimu erected a barrier with haste, but this was no mere danmaku now; Ran was an old youkai with great power of her own. In a straight fight, a nine-tailed fox had all the capability to run toe-to-toe with a well-trained priestess, where the inherent weakness to items and articles of spiritual power was more akin to a blow than immediate death or incapacitation. "I won't wait for you to ruin everything when it's most important, I'm putting you out of the picture _now_!"

The shrine maiden gathered her spiritual energy, and split the onslaught with a burst of power that seemed to stun Ran. Taking advantage of the pause, she drew upon several more talismans and threw them out. The fox composed herself enough to ignite much of the paper before it reached her, save one that blew past her shoulder and flew into one of the gaps. The portal swallowed the paper, wavering and shaking, before it finally collapsed on itself.

The look on Ran's face couldn't have described the depths of horror that were in her eyes, horror that quickly turned to fury. Without a second's hesitation, Ran twisted and blew another wave of fire out at the shrine maiden. Reimu smirked, raising her hands and forming another barrier. It was clear she'd upset Ran, and weakened her stance a bit. With just a little more, she could...

Something squeezed Reimu's throat, cutting off her breath just as the flames burned out. Ran stood with her arm shoved inside of the priestess' barrier, the limb scorched from penetrating the potent spiritual energies, flesh smoking as the fox's own aura strained to complete incineration of the limb. She was jerked suddenly as Ran squeezed her tighter around the throat. The barrier collapsed before her, giving full view of the feral glare in the elder youkai's eyes.

"Do you have _any_ notion of what you've just done?"

Reimu couldn't answer. Unable to draw breath, let alone focus enough to let off a spell, she simply stared at Ran through her single-minded fury. The fox slowly recomposed herself, still incensed, but in control. With her other hand she dismissed three of the gaps, watching them fly off toward three of the women laid out on the islet. Chen had seemed to have just completed whatever spell she was casting, and the first three in a row were swallowed by the gaps. The strange women were gone entirely, leaving only one, sporting a head of rainbow hair and two wings mismatched by severe injury. The priestess recognized the stranger from somewhere, but more pressing concerns with the nine-tails hands wrapped around her gullet reigned chief over any other concerns.

"W... what did..." Reimu struggled to speak, fighting against Ran's grip. The fox spared a glance at the beach, before looking back to Reimu and narrowing her eyes.

"They've been dispatched elsewhere," Ran said, her eyes beginning to glow with power as her tails splayed out behind her. "Chen will tend to the last one while I deal with you."

Reimu wasn't entirely certain what was going to happen. Would she die there? It seemed a distinct possibility; Ran was acting strangely, at best, and for a shikigami she was exceptionally clever. What was more was the use of Yukari's gaps. She could see her granting use of several of them, but why not utilize them herself? They had been used over great distances in the past, so nothing should have stopped her from taking charge. None of it made any sense, no matter how Reimu tried to piece it together.

The gaps, however, remained at the forefront of her mind as she was held out before one of the remaining two. It swelled to accommodate her size, and the fox gazed hard upon her as she began to see spots in her vision. She was starting to black out.

Ran's head turned, gazing past Reimu, past the gap, to someone, presumably, as she spoke. "So you're here then. Let me deal with this and I'll handle our business."

"This seems a bit different than what I expected." Reimu recognized the voice, but could not place it as her world began to grow dark and the voices gradually grew more distant.

"It would have come to this at some point later anyways." Ran's head turned, and she looked Reimu hard in the eyes. Was that... regret? "Things are going to be hard for you, Hakurei... but maybe you'll still make a difference in all of this."

The sensation of falling was the last thing she felt before she blacked out, surrounded by eyes in an eldritch space.

Reimu awoke with a start, not for the first time, as she scrambled to her feet... hooves. She stood upright on a futon, mane disheveled and chest heaving. She had just dreamt again of the events that had ultimately brought her to Eientei, where she sought Eirin and her medical expertise for a cure.

Seating herself slowly, she looked around the room, slowly regaining her composure. That night only a day or two ago had been burned into her memory. Physical form aside, there were so many things wrong with the situation, it was impossible to shake the nagging thoughts. After waking up on one of the far shores of the Misty Lake, she began to face all of the challenges her situation truly posed. Eating was one, as old tastes faded in favor of fare such as grass, flowers and the sort that repulsed her human mind. Getting any kind of help had been another problem. In a world where objects as simple as ancient and abandoned personal effects could gain spirits and speak, a talking animal had a very real chance of being branded a youkai by the average person. She had considered Marisa as an alternative, long-time friend and part-time troublemaker... but she didn't think she could stand hearing about it from the witch for what would undoubtedly be a very long time, even if she _were_ able to cure her condition.

Encountering Keine was purely accidental. The teacher had entered the great bamboo forest searching for Fujiwara no Mokou, the immortal human who had harnessed the power of fire. Those who knew her were aware of her endless conflicts with Kaguya Houraisan, the princess whose home Reimu took shelter in currently, and another missing denizen of Gensokyo. The Brain of the Moon, the Phoenix, and the Moon Princess; all disappeared. At the same time, she had not seen Suika since the new incident began. Counting the appearance of these new girls from her dream, she had no doubt it was all related to the same incident.

In fact, the dream reminded her of one of the figures she saw at the lake, with the same peculiar hair color as the one from Aya's photograph. Yukari had been meddling with something that night beyond the reach of Gensokyo, and Reimu was willing to bet it had to do with whoever that girl was or where ever she came from. Even without a clear motive, several pieces of the puzzle slowly clicked themselves into place.

However, Reimu reminded herself that the gap youkai was not her only suspect. Staring at the shoji door, as the moon light from without bled through the rice-paper covered slots, she focused on the exceedingly strange actions of her pet. Ran was particularly out of her normal step, the obedient, unquestioning shikigami to one of the most powerful beings in Gensokyo acting out and seeming on edge. Use of Yukari's gaps was not impossible if her mistress was channeling her own power through her; it was a standard feat for shikigami to become vessels for their master's power. It was not, however, something she had seen demonstrated by that pair before.

Reimu's head began to ache with exhaustion and frustration as she lay back down on her futon. Fussing with her hooves, she managed to hook the blanket and pull it up over most of her body beneath her forelegs. Yukari was acting strange, Ran was acting stranger still, several powerful youkai had gone missing, and she was a bright red pony. The priestess heaved a sigh and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would reclaim her, and quietly prayed to any of the gods for a dreamless slumber. 

* * *

><p>Rarity was familiar with the concept of creatures that lived beneath the earth, no thanks to a past experience with a trio of ruffians who had tried to enslave her and use her talents for selfish gain. Beyond the bridge they had crossed along the way, she imagined the civilization below as a network of caverns lightly furnished with personal effects belonging to whatever beings took up residence there. To say that she was surprised at seeing the span of the great subterranean world she had entered upon reaching the outskirts of their city would have been a grand understatement. She recalled the vastness of the place, an area that must have stretched for several miles out, filled with homes and buildings of all kinds. At the furthest end of it, nestled into the crook of the great cavernous walls, a large manor stood erect, marked by the warm glow visible behind it on the surrounding walls.<p>

It was that manor she sat in, legs tucked beneath her seat, her web slippers traded out for house slippers. She was alone save for a cat that had found its way into her lap a moment or two after Yamame went to seek out the owner of the home. Rarity stroked affectionately between its ears, scratching her nails through the black and red fur and at times playing with the two strange tails that waved back and forth. She might otherwise have found herself bored, but the time to think was welcome. She needed to absorb everything that had occurred again.

"What'cha up to?"

The seamstress jumped a bit in her seat, holding the cat to keep it from being knocked off by mistake. Turning her head, she found her eyes on a white-haired young lady, dressed in yellow blouse, green skirt and black sun hat. A line of thick cord was wrapped about her, seemingly linked to a blue orb that sat over one side of her chest. She gazed curiously, a smile on her lips, and Rarity allowed herself to relax.

"Well... I was told to wait here for someone." She gave the girl another look, blindly continuing to stroke the back of the feline in her lap. "Do you live here?"

"Yep!" The girl turned, taking the seat next to her and reaching over, grinning as she scratched between the cat's ears. "Orin does, too! She's our pet!"

"I see," Rarity said with a smile, looking down to the cat that gazed up at her. "Orin's a little sweetheart. She's very well behaved."

"Yeah, I think you'd really like to get to know her." The girl looked up to her. "My name's Koishi Komeiji, it's nice to meet you."

"Rarity. It's a pleasure, Koishi. I have to ask, do you by chance know who else is here that I might be waiting on?"

"Mmm..." Koishi looked ahead, swinging her legs forward and back in her chair. Her eyes tracked toward the ceiling, fingers tapping thoughtfully at the seat of her chair. "Probably my big sister. She manages things down here, so I suppose that makes her pretty important to all the other youkai."

"I... see," the tailor intoned again, turning her own eyes ahead and gazing at the checkered floor. "And, this place... Where are we exactly?"

"Hell."

"... What?" Rarity was certain that she was about to have a small panic attack. She pondered the location of her favorite lounging chair.

"Well, the old one anyways." Koishi smiled, looking at the floor. "Part of it got split off so we could all live here a long time ago. It's pretty nice, we even get snow sometimes in the winter!"

Rarity smiled uncomfortably. Hell was the last place she ever imagined that she would wind up; in fact, she thought that she had lived a fairly good life. Had that been what had happened? Had the unicorn simply passed on from the mortal plane and to the next? It didn't seem impossible as far as all things had gone. The last thing she remembered prior to her arrival in the Underground, dark, dank and deep as it was, had been tending to Rainbow Dash and Gilda. Perhaps whatever had caused their injuries caught all of them blind.

"You okay?" Koishi inquired, leaning over by Rarity's face and staring at her oddly. "You look kinda pale."

"I'll be fine... thank you, Koishi." She looked to the cat in her lap, hand paused on the feline's back. The situation wouldn't matter much at that point if she were truly beyond the grave. Her mind seemed to stall, engrossed with all of the implications, all the consequences. Turning her head back, she opened her mouth to speak, but found only an empty chair. Staring absent-mindedly at it for a moment, the fashionista found herself puzzled.

_Was... was I just speaking with someone?_ For the life of her, she could remember a conversation, but it seemed abstract. Key details stood out, and a concern for her life loomed in her heart, but she had no inkling as to why. Gazing back to her lap again, she stared at the ebon and crimson colored cat, blinking as if she were lost. "... Orin, was it?" The cat's head turned, as if to acknowledge her, and Rarity gave a faint smile. "What a strange feeling..."

"Good evening."

Head turning to a nearby corner, she watched a violet-haired girl approach. Wearing a lethargic smile on her face, she dressed in a blue blouse, pink skirt and house slippers. A heart-shaped clip settled on her headband, matching the buttons about her blouse, and what appeared to be an eye was settled over her chest, suspended by cords coiling about her body. Rarity started a bit as the eye actually blinked in time with her.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting," she said, stopping at the end of the row of seats. "Yamame and I were discussing your situation. I can see what she..." The girl paused, before shaking her head. "Rather, I'd like to hear your side of things, if you don't mind. My name is Satori Komeiji, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rarity."

"O, oh, um, yes, the pleasure's all mine." Rarity gently set Orin aside on the neighboring chair as she rose, smiling down to the seemingly mature young lady. She opened her mouth, preparing an introduction, before pausing. Aside from a particularly odd sense of déjà vu, had Satori just addressed her by name? A second's pause led her to conclude Yamame must have informed her. "Thank you for seeing me. Yamame said that some things had been happening around here as well, and..." The seamstress paused, feeling a lump in her throat as she stood there. She had to ask the question that had burned her mind since that strange sensation had hit her. "Miss Komeiji, am I... er, that is to say... Oh, how do I put this?"

"Alive?"

"Ah, that would be what I was getting a-" She stopped mid-sentence, staring at Satori. Now it was becoming strange. "How did you do that?"

Satori's smile grew, and she looked to Orin. "Could you prepare some tea and snacks for our guest? I believe she's had quite a long day, and could use refreshment." The feline mewled in acknowledgement and leapt from the seat, darting off around the corner. The house's mistress turned and began to walk, and Rarity strode after her. "I assure you, you're quite alive. This is indeed a branch of the Old Hell, but the denizens are taken care of, and live in relative comfort." The two's footsteps echoed through the halls as Satori guided her guest down a long corridor. "I'm certain you have other questions."

"Several," the once-unicorn confirmed, staring at her host's back with a healthy curiosity. "I... suppose that you knew because of what Yamame mentioned?"

The youkai sighed, walking in silence for a short time. She paused at a great door, gripping the handle. "It's something of a habit." With a twist and a push the door opened, and they stepped into a massive study. A fire burned in the hearth at the far end of the room, with several plush armchairs arranged around it and a large rug. Books, baubles and possessions lined the walls on shelves. Rarity felt all the more that she was in some noble's household. "Youkai such as myself are as naturally capable of peering into hearts as easily as any human is capable of breathing. The ability has its uses. I can communicate with animals and creatures whose hearts would otherwise be silent to anyone else." She stopped, facing the hearth settled center in the room's far wall, though her gaze seemed to stretch beyond that. "It can, however, be a little disconcerting to some who aren't accustomed to it."

"Well... I can understand, at least. To have your mind peered into at any given moment can be a little unnerving."

Satori smiled solemnly, taking a seat in a great armchair by the fire. "You handle the concept with much more grace than many humans do. Though, most humans don't come to Gensokyo under your circumstances." The violet-haired youkai gestured to the one parallel of her. "Make yourself at home."

"Thank you," she said as she eased herself back into the seat, sighing pleasantly. This was more her speed. The warmth of the fire, cozy furniture; if the refreshments would be arriving soon then all would be near perfect. The seamstress let her thoughts swim for a moment before looking back to her host. Satori's evaluating gaze was settled on her. Perhaps it was best to get to the matter at hand. Straightening herself up in the seat, Rarity composed herself as a proper businesswoman. "The truth of the matter is, at this moment my concerns are less for myself than they are for several friends of mine. Miss Komeiji, I must ask, have any others like myself come here recently?"

"I'm afraid not," the satori youkai said solemnly. "However, with the rash of disappearances that have been about in our world, your arrival here is quite timely. As I've been told, you're from a place called Equestria?"

"I am." Rarity closed her eyes. "The last thing I recall before waking up in this place was assisting a few friends of mine who had been hurt by... something or other, I'm afraid I don't know what. I blacked out, and then... well, I imagine that you've already been told the story from there."

Satori nodded, staring at Rarity. "If you would excuse the intrusion, I'd like to read your heart on the situation in its entirety."

"Uh... you can do that? I mean, going back so far?" Rarity shifted uncomfortably. It was not as if there were anything to hide, but the notion of someone peeking into her thoughts did leave her to wonder what potentially embarrassing things may have been dredged up from the past.

"Do you have a problem with it?"

"Well, I suppose not, it's just... Well, do you even need to ask?"

The girl smiled warmly, clasping her hands together in her lap. "Not necessarily, no. However, you're not an enemy, or an intruder. I've lately been trying to extend such courtesies to my guests, if possible. We can discuss it if you'd prefer, but I feel we would both benefit more if I could see it as you did, rather than risk any misconceptions that could come about from speaking."

It was a point that Rarity couldn't debunk. If it would hasten things along, and give Satori a clearer picture of the situation, then it was all for the better. Fairly certain she didn't have any particularly humiliating debacles in recent history for the youkai to stumble over, the seamstress took a slow breath and closed her eyes. "Very well, please do as you must."

"Thank you. Please, picture as clearly as you can everything that led up to this."

It wasn't long before the violet-haired woman felt a strange intrusion, as if someone had opened a door into her mind. Focusing on the day she awoke in Carousel Boutique, nude and in her strange new form, she allowed her mind to drift through the events that followed. By the time she and her friends' first encounter with youkai had come to mind, Rarity hardly even noticed the sensation of eyes on her thoughts anymore. The story simply played itself out in her mind without fear of judgment or reprimand. She had no idea how long it took to cover every event of the last month relevant to her current ordeal. The tailor was quite certain she had gotten lost in one daydream past about designing an entire new royal wardrobe for the two princesses thanks to their situation. However, as she came to the great waiting area she had sat in after arriving in the manor, she stalled, unsure for some reason, and her eyes eased open. Gazing across the room to Satori, she bit her lip.

"I see you met my sister," the heart-reading youkai said.

"I, I did?"

"Koishi. You'll recall the next time you see her." Turning her head, she smiled to a third person who had entered the room in the midst of their activity, waiting patiently with a cart. "Orin, I apologize for making you wait."

"Not a problem, Lady Satori." Rarity's head turned, watching a red-headed girl with braided pigtails approach, pushing the cart along. A black dress with green embroidery and black shoes made up her attire. The seamstress had to appreciate the touch of ribbon wrapped around one of her legs, and the girl herself was not unattractive. However, she strayed from her manner of dress to the two tails flicking behind her: cat tails, paired off with the ears sitting atop her head, strangely over a set of human ears as well. Was it a costume? No, it was moving far too organically, and she'd seen enough youkai in passing to be sure there were those with such features. It was then that something clicked in her mind.

"Orin... as in, the cat?"

Orin grinned a bit, serving her mistress tea and a small plate with cake upon it. "The one and only. I'm Rin Kaenbyou, Orin's just kind of my pet name. You can use it all you like though, especially with those magic fingers." She purred for effect after, approaching and handing Rarity her tea and cake. "You must have a cat back home. They're very lucky."

"Your heart was filled with distress when you entered the palace, so I sent Orin to keep you company." Satori took a sip of her tea. "I'm pleased to see you two are getting along so well."

Rarity couldn't help but smile for some reason. Upon accepting her snacks, Orin walked over to her mistress' chair and sat on the floor before it, tucking her feet in at her side.

"Orin, you can take a chair, you know."

"Mm, but I like being at your side, Lady Satori."

Satori sighed, reaching down and patting her between the ears. "Of course." The youkai mistress turned her attention back to Rarity, teacup resting on the arm of her chair. "Still, it seems as though your world has been through a great deal. I'm sorry to say that there's not much we can do to help, though, let alone in getting you home."

"Oh..." The fashionista was unable to hide her discouragement in time, and instead put on the best smile she could after. "Well, I mean, it's not as if I should have been expecting anything. This is quite a particular situation for all of us, isn't it?"

"I can only offer my apologies," the house's mistress said with a solemn voice. "I would love to reunite you with your friends, but I doubt anyone here would have even the faintest idea of where to look. As for your forms, that kind of power is well beyond my own capabilities. You would have to be a god even to hope to reverse the shift without special abilities such as Miss Yakumo's."

"No, I understand." She did her best to assure her host of that, though she could not mask her disappointment. "I'm truly sorry for being an inconvenience on your house like this. Yamame went to great lengths to get me here, and the only thing I've to offer in return are stories and farfetched wishes."

"It's hardly selfish to want to see those you care about again." Satori took a sip from her cup, and lowered it back onto its saucer. "Your sister in particular must miss you quite badly."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Rarity gazed down at her own cup. A smile was on her lips. "Sweetie Bell is so focused on growing up quickly... I mean, we do spend time together, but she's rather fond of her two little friends."

"And yet she seemed to badger you for attention quite a bit."

Another thing that remained a constant over the last month. Rarity should have expected so much as she gave a wry smile. "Well, you have a sibling of your own, I'm certain you're familiar with the concept."

"I am," Satori said. Her hand again found Orin's head, though she scratched between the feline's ears more slowly, watching her fingers work methodically through the fiery head of hair. "Siblings are a funny thing, aren't they? You know you love them, but you also know they can be some of the most troublesome people in the world. You take turns making one another worry as many times as you do making the other laugh, and happiness and sadness are just the turn of a corner from you at any given moment. But then the day comes when you don't have your shadow, when the two of you part for whatever reason... Suddenly, it's so funny when you realize how much you miss them."

"You... you do know a good bit about it yourself, I take it," Rarity responded. However, while her tone was solemn, the smile on her lips grew. "Would it be too much to ask your experience, Miss Komeiji?"

"Satori is fine, Rarity," she said, closing her eyes and leaning back into her seat. Taking cup and saucer both in hand, she began to reminisce. "As for my experience... Well, Koishi had always been the more adventurous of the two of us, even before things changed. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and was always thrilled to know about everything that went on, even before we came to the Underground.

"I remember one instance when we were younger that got us in a particular lot of trouble. Koishi had gotten ahead of me as we were out on a walk, for what, I can't remember. I found her by following her heart, and wouldn't you know it, we had come upon a shrine. Koishi had never been around one before, I'd taken special care to keep her away because of her curious nature. In spite of my best efforts to draw her away, she had the run of the place in only a few moments. When I had to explain to her what a donation box was, halfway through it she had gotten into it and grabbed a fist full of coins. She thought it meant they were for anyone who wanted them. The priest in charge of the shrine returned at about that time and started to chase us off. I'm certain the only reason he didn't attack was because he'd just returned from an extermination and had used all of his talismans and tools. He chased us quite a ways, however, before he finally gave up. And do you know what Koishi did?

"She turned around and set the money down for him, and said 'Mister, I think your daughter's gonna need it more than me. I think you'll be a good grandpa.'" Satori paused there, opening her eyes and staring at Rarity. There was pride in her expression now. "For as long as I've known her, Koishi has always been impulsive and hard to keep track of. But her heart has always been in the right place. I wish I saw her more often, though... The Palace of the Earth Spirits can grow quite large and hollow without the company of the people you love." A light mewling noise caught her ear, and she looked down to Orin, who cast her a gaze of playful contempt. With a giggle, she resumed stroking her pet's hair. "Though I am fortunate enough to have good company at all.

"While I can't offer you a way home, I can at least offer you safety for the evening. A human, regardless of whatever power you may have, would not be safe in the city by herself. It's late anyways, and I'm certain you've had a long day." Turning her attention from her pet, she looked to Rarity with a smile, filled with warmth. "How would you like to stay the night, and in the morning, we can discuss your options?"

Rarity was somewhat taken aback by the offer. "Oh... I would hate to impose. I mean, I..." As much as the good manners she championed tried to rear their head, her position made it hard to argue. Satori smiled knowingly, though whether it was for actual knowing or just perception, the tailor could not say. Shock dissolving, a coy smile came across her lips. "Would... it be a problem, I mean?"

"The Palace of the Earth Spirits is quite large, as I said. There's plenty of room to accommodate guests. I'd certainly feel better about it as opposed to turning you out in the dark to a world you know nothing about. Come the morning, we'll see what we can do for you."

"That sounds perfect, Satori. Thank you very much for your generosity." Taking a small cake from the other plate she'd earlier been handed, she held it ponderously before her face. "If you don't mind, however... Might we chat some more? Perhaps it's inappropriate to say so soon, but I could use the company of a friend right now."

This time Satori seemed a little taken aback. Staring back at Rarity, whose own eyes rose to meet hers, she gave a content sigh.

"I think I would like that very much, Rarity." 

* * *

><p>Flandre felt more alone than she did in the basement beneath the Scarlet Devil Manor. For all the accommodations that had been granted to her, she was not permitted to leave her room. She had been instructed that a few times a day, servants of the castle would come in to clean, leave her food and changes of clothes. That was the original plan that Celestia had left with her at any rate. Food, after the first meal had been sampled, went untouched. It seemed bland, and did nothing to satisfy the cravings for fresher fare her body demanded, prey she had never successfully gotten herself, no thanks to the child's habit of completely obliterating her quarry every single time. In the end, she was a vampire, and Sakuya's cooking addressed that. These cooks, however, had no notion of how to feed one like her, not that there had been much opportunity or desire to speak about it. She couldn't believe that there wasn't even meat, that she couldn't even find a few measly drops of animal blood. Anything brought after that first fateful meal was left completely untouched.<p>

Cleaning was another issue. Not for her of course, but the castle staff. She had learned almost immediately how trapped she was at her first attempt to tried to slip out. The door, naturally, had been magically warded to prevent even the handle from turning. While she could have blown it away in an instant, she felt that would put a damper on her odds of getting assistance toward returning to Gensokyo. Likewise, in spite of the balcony that gave her a view of the entire capital and many of the lands beyond, a magical barrier erected around the room did well to seal her the rest of the way in. A touch only offered a matched stopping force. Anything greater than that...

Well, she didn't need that table she'd been rebounded through anyways.

Already hungry at that point and of foul temperament to boot, the tower quickly came to resemble her old basement room on the worst of days. A dresser had been reduced to splinters. Closet doors were caved in and any contents within scattered. All but one pillow had been dissected furiously, two even reduced to so much ash. The only furniture that remained intact was her bed by the time she had been done. The cleaning staff had attempted to enter in the midst of her tantrum. She at least found humor in the speed at which they turned on their toes and slammed the door when she cast eyes on them. In the end, Flandre was alone, left to dwell on her thoughts in the ruined room.

The little draculina sat with her back to the door, scowling at the floor as she wrung Laevateinn in her hands. There was no fun to be had in this world, she had decided. No one visited her, no one tried to speak to her. At least Sakuya would occasionally scold her, even if it was in Remilia's stead, or talk her down when she was truly wound up. There were times even she would run, of course. The time-stopping human was far from a match for her ability to destroy anything, never mind the raw power at her fingertips. The chief maid might have been viewed in one perspective as the closest thing they'd had to a mother in centuries, but was too subservient to be called such. Still, Flandre never questioned that she was loved. Little gestures made it through to her; an extra cookie at tea time, stitching together those stuffed animals that could be saved, even bedtime stories and the effort she put forward into becoming the characters, though she could be a little stiff at times.

Meiling, too, she missed sorely. Where Sakuya provided the tenderness, Meiling was where all the fun was. The youkai guardian was strong and resilient. Flandre had played with her on several occasions, and yes, there had been times which she had been hurt; but it never scared her away, and Meiling even covered for her, claiming that she had repelled a great intruder at the gate on a few occasions. The foreign woman from the other eastern country always came back with that foolish grin and new ideas. She recalled the brief study she had been given in martial arts, only a few weeks after the Scarlet Mist Incident her sister began, and her own attempted breakout after that.

_"You see, you've got amazing power, Lady Flandre," _Meiling said at that time, walking her step by step through basic motions. _"But you lack control. You need a focus for all that energy you've got bottled up."_

_"I don't have any control problems,"_ she had retorted. _"I can beat anyone. No one's good enough to keep up with me except Marisa."_

Flandre's scowl had vanished completely while she was lost in her memories, and she turned a listless gaze over the ruins of her room, sinking back against the door.

_"There's a difference between destroying something and defeating it, little mistress." _Meiling had a wide grin on her face as she spoke, moving methodically through stances and strikes. Flandre remembered how frustrated she was, how slow things moved, but she had stayed with the youkai for every step. _"My sifu taught me everything I know about self-restraint. In battle, and in life, there's a time to let go, and a time for control. I'll teach you about all that as we go along."_

_ "What's a 'sifu'?"_

_ "Mm... you would know it as a 'teacher'."_

_ "So, then you're my 'sifu'?"_

Flandre felt the smile from back then creep onto her lips. Meiling had stared at her for a moment as if something amazing had occurred. The youkai then grinned ear to ear.

_"So it would seem, Little Mistress."_

Flandre was jolted from her memories at the sound of a knock. Twisting, she faced the door, staring hard at it.

"Flandre, can I come in?"

It was the princess. The woman commanded a significant amount of authority, naturally. She had also shown a level of kindness to her that she had not experience outside of Gensokyo, outside of her family. However, she thumped back against the door, remaining silent.

"I understand you've been having a rough time. I just want to talk, nothing else."

"Go away."

"Flandre, you've scared off the cleaning staff, and I've heard about what's happened in there. I'm asking you to let me in, please. I just want to speak with you."

Silence again. The centuries-old little girl would not simply waiver because someone wanted to talk. She pressed her back against the door more firmly, adamant in her silence.

"I'm worried about you, Flandre."

The words made her grow rigid. It wasn't as if she wasn't aware people did. Her big sister certainly worried about the kinds of trouble she could get into, how dangerous her powers could be. She was no fool, after all, they were _hers_, and hers to do with as she liked. But something about the way Celestia said it...

Biting her lip, she lowered her head against her knees. "I wanna go home," she mumbled through her teeth. She remained like that for some time, before she heard footsteps, each one further away from the last. Without thinking, she stood up and grabbed the door handle, pressing down the latch and yanking on it. The first time she had tried it, she had received a sharp spark for her trouble, as if a great jolt of static electricity ran through her arm. Now, however, the door swung open. Standing in the hall at the top of the stairs, looking back over her shoulder, was Princess Celestia, smiling warmly.

"It's dark. Shall we take a walk?"

The moonlit courtyard of the Equestrian royal palace was a welcome change from Flandre's ruined bedchambers. A few hours passed in their walk, culminating with the end of their tour of the castle grounds. Their little adventure ended in the royal gardens, where the child dropped back and took a seat beneath a tree with a smile. A handful of bats leapt from their branches and soared away to a neighboring tree, and the little vampire watched with wonder.

"Do you like bats, Flandre?" Princess Celestia took a seat as well, resting her back against the trunk of the tree.

"We have some back at the manor," she said, legs sprawled out and leaning forward on her hands. "Big Sister says they're not pets, though. They just hide around parts of the roof. I guess they came with us when we moved to Gensokyo."

Princess Celestia's head turned, gazing upon the blonde curiously. "How long ago did you move there?"

"Mmm... I don't know." She leaned back, thumping gracelessly against the tree. Her bejeweled wings jingled a little from the jostling. "Remilia moved us in from the outside world. I don't really understand why, she said something about our 'existence being threatened'."

"What do you mean by that?" Celestia was further intrigued, setting her hand down and twisting to get a better look at her.

"Dunno," Flandre said, rocking her feet side to side, bumping the tips of her shoes together. "I heard Patchy talking about it, but no one ever really told me how it worked. Gensokyo is home now, though. She moved the entire house there, even the gardens and basement."

"That's quite impressive. There must have been magic involved, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Flandre smiled, spreading her arms wide. "Patchy made a big circle around the manor, I could see parts of it from my window. Big sister didn't let me out to see all of it, though. Meiling was the only one outside the whole time until we left. Then everything flashed in the middle of the night, and it was like... like falling, really, really far. But we made it! Now we live in front of the lake and have a bunch of fairy maids who help Sakuya do all the cleaning. Oh, and hobgoblins, too! Though they're kinda new. And gross."

"My goodness," Celestia said, a genuine look of interest on her face. "It sounds as though that was quite a journey. Your friend, 'Patchy'? She did all of this by herself?"

"She did!" Flandre clapped her hands together, lacing her fingers and twisting to face Celestia wholly. "I remember hearing her by my bedroom door. Remilia said something to her, something about 'proving she was as great a magician as she claimed'. She didn't seem to like it, but she proved it! After all, she's the one who..." Flandre's voice trailed off as she thought back to the manor, to the countless days she would spend in her room, minutes dragging on into lonely hours. The little vampire's shoulders sagged, and her head drooped. There was a pause between the two, until Celestia rolled over and to her knees, moving closer to the girl.

"What happened, Flandre?"

"Patchouli... cause she's so good, she's the one who always locks my door. Big sister doesn't let me go outside much. Not even in the house. The door mostly opens when Sakuya brings me food, or Meiling sneaks in sometimes to play with me when she's not guarding the gate."

There was another uncomfortable pause, however short, as the princess spoke up again. "Flandre... how long have you been kept in your room at home?"

"A really long time," she said, hugging her knees up. "Before we came to Gensokyo, there was a town near us. Remilia'd go there at night sometimes. I got to go once. After I got told to stay in my room, the next time I came outside, everyone was gone. She didn't let me leave the garden, but I could see it from the sky. Everything was broken, and trees had grown in the roads in some places. After we moved, when the shrine maiden and Marisa came a few years ago..." Flandre raised one hand before her face, thinking for a moment. "Four hundred and ninety-five years, then." She glanced out the corner of her eye, seeing what appeared like alarm in Celestia's face. Raising her head, she looked curiously upon her host, who composed herself - though it looked a little forced.

"Am I bad?"

The night air suddenly hung heavy around them. The façade the princess put up so quickly had broken, as she looked truly lost, gazing upon the child in her company. Flandre, equally, was unable to move from what she had set into motion. The child sat still, like a doll, simply watching expectantly as the princess stared at her.

Then, for whatever reason, Celestia's hand moved and tenderly brushed back her bangs.

"I believe..." she said softly, looking thoughtful, speaking slowly and with meaning. "I believe that you have done bad things, Flandre," she said. The vampire child felt the sting of the words, and warmth built behind her eyes. A light trembling ran through her, until the solar princess removed her hat and began to gently stroke her head. "But I believe those actions are only one aspect of you. I believe you have a lot in your heart that you have no positive outlet for." Celestia moved to sit closer to Flandre. Tucking her legs in at her side, she leaned back against the tree, gazing up nostalgically at the moon overhead. "You know that I have a little sister as well, Flandre?"

Flandre nodded, looking in silence up to the moon as she thought of the woman with midnight blue hair. That princess was particularly cold towards her, and had said nothing to her the entire time they were there.

"I... have been forced to make difficult decisions with her in the past." Celestia's gaze grew sadder, and she closed her eyes. "She and I have always ruled side-by-side, but there have been times when we had... disagreements. At one time, I chose to send her far away, from all the things that she loved. I thought that I had no other choice, because I was afraid of what she would do if I did not... I was afraid of something happening to her because she had seemed to lose herself."

"How long?"

"... A thousand years." Celestia's fingers laced together, and she brought her knees up toward her chest. "When she finally returned, she was furious..."

_Everything had gone according to plan that day. The preparations for the Summer Sun Festival were nearly complete all over Equestria, particularly in the little town of Ponyville, where she would be holding the Ceremony of the Rising Sun that year. Twilight Sparkle, her most faithful student, had done well in her duties of ensuring that the citizens of Ponyville were on schedule with their preparations. The quaint little town had looked gorgeous as she flew in from Canterlot, with the scent of baked goods strong in the air, and, if her ears did not deceive her, the choir of birds warming up as she had waited behind the curtain in town hall was pitch perfect. With not even a cloud in the evening sky, Celestia was pleased with her subjects._

_ It was especially the clear sky that had her attention, as she watched the moon. A thousand years had come and gone, and it was the night that would truly test the mettle of her student - who only earlier that day had contacted her about her concerns for what most who knew of it considered an old pony's tale. It was at that moment that the monarch, planning for the worst, had devised a new strategy. If it failed, she stood to lose everything, and the fate of Equestria hung in the balance. As the stars themselves closed in on the great celestial body overhead, on the image of the Mare in the Moon that pockmarked its surface, the alicorn princess braced her hooves and took a breath to calm herself._

_ There was a flash in the sky, and the image disappeared. Celestia closed her eyes, and felt a mystic presence heavy in the air about her. Darkness itself rose all around and enveloped her, faster than she could hope to react, engulfing the princess of the sun entirely. All rested on Twilight's shoulders now, and as the world fell to black, she set all her faith in her pupil._

_ Celestia came around to a heavy weight along the length of her back. Try as she might, for all the great magical force contained within her body, she could not budge or lift it. There was a silence, so great that it inspired terror at her core. In spite of this, she kept a calm face. To falter at this stage would cost her everything._

_ "So good to see you, dear sister."_

_ Light pierced the darkness as another alicorn approached. Nearly identical in stature and build, her coat was as black as the world had been around her before. She garbed herself with a helmet, collar and horseshoes cast in blue steel, the same color of the catlike eyes glaring down at her captive. The mare's mane and tail looked as if the cosmos itself had been bound to her. The cutie mark at her flank of the crescent moon over the darkness of space was the only true sign of who she once was._

_ "Luna," she said, her voice straining like her body under the great weight upon her._

_ "I am your "Luna" no longer, Celestia," the alicorn snapped. "I believe we have been over this once before. My name is Nightmare Moon, and I expect you should be grateful to even be having this conversation."_

_ "You are _not_," Celestia insisted, pushing back against her mystical bindings as she tried to reach the mare before her. "You are my sister, Luna. We are meant to rule Equestria together, just as the night and day share the sky. It is for the good of our citizens-"_

_ "Our citizens?" Nightmare Moon's glare grew sharper still, approaching with heavy hoof steps. "The same citizens who reveled in your disgusting daytime, who cast me aside and feared me? The citizens who looked upon my beautiful night with disdain and loathing, wishing only for the morning to come? I remember it well, _dear sister_, your sweet lies from a thousand years past. That every star in the sky I placed with meaning, the foalish masses would one day come to appreciate. I remember, in spite of our mutual defeat of Discord, that all glory came to you. Did you ever correct them? Had the true story been enforced on the citizens that you placed above your flesh and blood?_

_ "Even now, do you take the time to warn them of the impending dangers? Clearly not, it seems. I have put out little birds, shall we say, throughout your precious kingdom and beyond in the short time I've been back, and a select few even within our borders recognize this night for what it is. One. Thousand. Years. Exactly. The scholars in our day document it, and it has been reduced to a foal's story. You have even gone so far as to move your hallowed celebration to this insignificant little hamlet on the edge of the Everfree Forest instead of your new capital on the eve of my return? How _ignorant_ are your subjects? No, I suppose the appropriate question is, how far are you willing to go, who are you willing to lose, who will you allow to suffer, so you can try and pretend that _I don't exist_?"_

_ "Is that what you really think of me, Luna?" Celestia's heart ached as she stared up at her sister, into her cold, unsympathetic eyes. Gritting her teeth, she strained further against her bonds. The elder sister actually succeeded in arching her back a bit, looking the Mare in the Moon dead in the face."Are you so convinced that I am ashamed of you? Do you truly hate me so?"_

_ The answer came as her chin slammed into the floor. The cold touch of steel was atop her head, and Celestia's jaw was in pain. She rolled her eyes forward, gazing into Nightmare Moon's eyes, only to behold them filled with loathing and sorrow._

_ "A peasant does not raise her head in the presence of her queen." The black-coated mare pressed down harder, leaning down on her forelegs and speaking softly. "I would kill you now, but that hardly seems fair after the millennium of solitude I was left to on the moon. What do you think, Celestia? Do you think if I banish you to the sun, we will be able to see your face from here? Will it burn more brightly as you understand what you have put me through? A thousand years, and I may check up on you. Perhaps, once you understand, I can allow you to govern my stars."_

_ The conversation went no further. Celestia's gaze broke from Luna's, watching a shadow shoot through the air and bond with her mane. She pondered what had just happened before her counterpart's eyes widened, only for a moment. A dark sneer then curled over her snout, showing off her wicked fangs._

_ "I suppose I'll have time to consider what to do with you later, Celestia. For now, I must be off. It seems there are a hoofful of upstarts who believe they have found the means to defeat me. I shall make an example of them, so that all of Equestria understands what happens should they trifle with their new queen."_

_ "Luna! Luna, come back!" Celestia's shouts at her sister's back went unheeded_ _as darkness closed around her once more. By the sounds of things, her plans were in motion; but it all hinged on the choices made by her student, and whatever company she found for herself. Luna was half right: she had planned her sister's imminent return, but to keep Equestria from falling into a state of panic. She had chosen Ponyville not simply for its size, but for its proximity to their old castle and the Elements of Harmony contained within. If Luna were ever to return to herself, it would take their power, which she had long since lost the ability to wield. It was a tremendous gamble, however, and the alicorn was confident that if Twilight knew, it would tax the trust that their relationship had been built upon. All Celestia could do now was wait, and hope._

_ Hours passed in that darkness, no sound, light or sensation reaching her. It was a prison that would have driven the average pony mad. The princess instead preoccupied herself with the possible worst case scenarios. From tactics on how to battle the twisted little sister to what would happen if she had to be vanquished once and for all, Celestia mulled gravely over the choices that may have been laid out before her. She thought back to the past, when she co-ruled with Luna. At times, those who were hurt in the manner Luna was could seldom see past their own nose. Celestia had tried to make the citizens of Equestria in the olden days understand, tried to give Luna the spotlight, but it never caught on. The sun, the life giver, was more favored;_ _and Luna, except for her own company and that of the guards, was alone, finding solace in tomes and scrolls or exploring the world of the night. If only she had known what to do back then, how to help her sister the way she deserved to be helped. If only mother and father were still..._

_ In a sudden instant, the darkness around her vanished. The princess could feel the plush carpet beneath her body, see the dresser and mirror before her, parallel to her bed. She had been captive in her bedchambers the entire time. It seemed there was wisdom heeded in the old saying, "hide a tree in the woods". Staggering to her hooves, she knew immediately where she needed to be. Galloping out the balcony doors, she leapt over the guardrail, her horn aglow as magic enveloped her. Then - as if light itself - Celestia sped off over the horizon, covering miles in seconds. As her magic propelled her through the air the moon began to wane in the sky, and the true sun, the great star in the sky, began to rise just as the old castle in the Everfree Forest came into view._

_ "We did not expect such a... fabulous party," Princess Luna said as she ascended the stairs to their wing of the castle beside her sister. The Summer Sun Festival had resumed, not only in the spirit of the season, but also to mark the final end of Nightmare Moon and return of the true form of the princess of the night. She had been publically pardoned for her actions, as there had, thankfully, been no casualties, and while she remained quiet and at her sister's side for most of the proceedings, had gained general acceptance among the citizens of Ponyville. Staying as long as the rise of the moon, which Luna beheld for the first time in a millennium as opposed to being a literal part of it, they departed shortly after with warm wishes and weary eyes._

_ "It seems that Twilight has picked her friends well. Pinkie Pie certainly knew how to host the affair." Celestia wore her smile calmly, but remained in step with her smaller sister. "How are you feeling after today?"_

_ "We... feel a great many things, Celestia," Luna said. "Relief, catharsis, joy... and Our belly is filled with confections of several varieties."_

_ Celestia only chuckled quietly._

_ "But... there is regret, and sorrow the same."_

_ The two paused in the midst of the hallway, exchanging looks. Luna peeked through her cornflower blue bangs at her taller sister, scratching a hoof idly against the carpet. "What We... what _I_ did then... I tried to kill you, and you still tried to save me. You _did_ save me, and... and all I can think about is-"_

_ "That's enough of that, Luna," Celestia said. She lowered her head, nuzzling her sister. "I was not... the pinnacle of success back then, as a princess or as a sister. While you were on the moon, I had a great many years to reflect, to think about what I had done, and what I would have done differently."_

_ "Tia..."_

_ "Never again," Celestia said, her foreleg wrapping around her sister and drawing her close. "I will never allow you to feel the way you did again as back then. You will be given the respect and dignity you deserve." She drew back, feeling Luna's own hoof fall from her side as she came back to all fours. "But you will have to work with me. I cannot make our citizens love you. You must reach out and communicate with them."_

_ Luna gave a dry smile. "Not at one of your galas, I hope."_

_ Celestia smiled, turning and continuing to walk._

_ "Actually, there's an event you might like in autumn..."_

"Big sisters are not perfect, Flandre," Celestia said, with the vampire child sitting in rapt attention. "But we do love our little sisters. Perhaps..." Celestia's head turned, and Flandre stared into her eyes, seeming to understand her before the words actually left her lips. "Perhaps she is simply scared of losing you, the way I nearly lost my own for my negligence and ignorance."

Flandre stared in awe and wonder. At the same time, the burning behind her eyes had returned, and proceeded to spread down her cheeks. She looked down, surprised to see she had a hold on the golden chain belt around the princess' waist. She didn't have it in her head what to do next, it simply happened. She leaned forward, pressing her face against Celestia's chest, and grabbed onto her gown with her other hand. Celestia's own hands came around, resting on her back and head, and the blonde just sat there, silently allowing the tears to flow.

"She doesn't hate me, then..." she asked, a light tremor in her voice. "Remilia isn't ashamed of me?"

"I could not imagine why," Celestia soothed, stroking her back. "I don't think there is any sane girl in any world who hates her little sister."

The two just remained like that for some time, Flandre taking comfort in Celestia's embrace. There was a warmth there, a kind she had not experienced in many long years. Perhaps Meiling had ever been the closest at granting her that, but there was always a cautious element to it. With Celestia it was simple, unconditional and sincere, and after some time, Flandre smiled.

"Princess Celestia?"

The third voice drew the two's attention. Flandre glanced over her shoulder, still holding onto the woman. The little girl beheld another who had wings like the princess', albeit pink and violet tipped. Her hair, violet and pink and yellow, curled at the ends. A sleeveless, magenta gown flowing from a golden collar was her garb, snug at the top and falling into an open and flowing skirt below the waist. Like Celestia, she wore gauntlets and boots plated in gold; each sported a crystal heart cast into the metal at the feet and backs of the hands. A small crown was nestled in her hair with yet another one of those hearts set atop it. To wear such flashy clothes, the vampire child assumed quickly that she must have been important.

"Princess Cadance," Celestia said with a smile. The named princess bowed, and Flandre's company dismissed the gesture with a wave of her hand. "None of that now, we have no one around to impress with the show. I believe I am the one troubling you, at any rate."

"It's never any trouble to come and see my aunt," Cadance said warmly. She looked to Flandre, her smile increasing as she bent over to level with the girl. "Hello there. My name's Cadance. I'm the princess of the Crystal Empire, or, I will be soon. What's your name?"

Flandre studied her quietly, as if on the defensive. A moment ago, she had been engaged in a very vulnerable moment. Had this girl seen that? Did she know about her, and what she'd done? Most people who had encountered her did so during one of her games, where she cared more about having fun than anything else. Suddenly, in the middle of a heart to heart with another person, and no games to put between them, she felt incredibly vulnerable. Instinct made her seek out Cadance's Eye.

"It's alright," Celestia soothed. She shifted, taking one of the girl's hands and rising slowly with her. "You can introduce yourself, Cadance will not judge you."

Flandre turned, staring up to the towering woman. Taking a breath, she looked to their new guest.

"I'm Flandre," she said, her tone flat and wary.

"That's a very pretty name," she said, reaching a hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Flandre reached out, carefully taking Cadance's into her own. There was a very light shake as the other girl giggled, and then gently parted hands with her. Standing upright, she looked to Celestia. "Is it okay to talk about this here, or do you want to go somewhere more private?"

"This isn't a conversation I'd prefer to have a child suffer through. If you don't mind, would you follow me as I escort her back to her room? We can discuss the situation afterwards."

"Awwww," Flandre groaned, looking up to Celestia with a pout. "I like it out here though."

"I know, Flandre, but I'm afraid I have to take care of this." Flandre's pout did not fade, and Celestia crouched beside her. "I'll tell you what. I have to have some people come in and fix up your room tomorrow. If you can promise me you'll behave, then every night, I'll come see you, and we can come out here. How does that sound?"

"Do you mean it?" Flandre found it within herself to grow excited. Celestia's smile grew.

"I do, and I'll teach you new games to play, ones that won't get you in such trouble."

"Alright!" Flandre could not stop herself from the little cheer. She giggled as her hat was placed back on her head, reaching up and adjusting it. For the first time in quite some time, she felt a sense of levity in her that did not come from danmaku. There was a strange peace she was not familiar with, and she liked it. Celestia's hand rose before her, and the vampire child took it without hesitation, walking astride the two princesses.

"Hey," Flandre said, looking up at the two with intrigue, "being a princess means there's a king or a queen already, right?"

"Well, that's the general idea, yes," Cadance said. "Why do you ask?"

"If you're in charge, shouldn't you be queens?"

Celestia and Cadance both exchanged looks, taken off guard by the statement. The two passed awkward smiles to one another, and Celestia gripped Flandre's hand a little more firmly.

"Tomorrow night, I'll tell you all about it." 

* * *

><p>Remilia Scarlet sat in the great hall of the Scarlet Devil Manor, reclining into what she deemed her throne, as grandiose as the house and its mistress were. In the massive room, filled with columns and laid with floors of marble, her great seat was the sole piece of furniture, nestled in its center. Stained glass windows, decades old and dyed in the color of her name, existed as if to mock the church that scorned her kind. The manor's mistress traced her finger over the black-stained mahogany of the arm, carved into the shape of a devil's claw wrapped around an onyx sphere. Red velvet cushions braced her as she leaned against the towering back of the seat, the mantle well over her head bearing wings, with a large crystal set into the hardwood from front to back. It was a masterpiece, suited only for the greatest of men, alive or dead.<p>

For that exact reason, in a rare case of happenstance, Remilia felt dwarfed by the great seat. She rested with a teacup in her other hand, staring into the liquid circling around in the china, untouched by her lips. The circumstances of Flandre's appearance in this other world, this "Equestria", had been made known to her by the house magician and her friend, Patchouli Knowledge. As opposed to easing her nerves, she grew tenser than ever. The involvement of Yukari Yakumo had left her both irate and contemplative. This was no mere accident, it was a slap in the face from a woman as crafty as she was dangerous. Furthermore, her sister was involved, and she was willing to bet the news of other missing youkai were her doing as well. Perhaps the only boon to their situation had been the appearance of the winged girl known as Rainbow Dash. An audience was to be held with her within the hour, not that there was anything left to learn from the magician's scrying. No, it was now about how to use this foreigner to get what she wanted.

Remilia closed her eyes, setting the teacup aside on a small table beside her chair. She had no appetite or thirst, and thought only of her sister. It was true, Flandre had caused her great trouble in the past. The child's powers were beyond her own, although she would never admit it out loud. Remilia had only ever gotten the upper hand in controlling her because she did not succumb to the nature of a wild animal, because Flandre respected her as the eldest of the two sisters. Without anyone from the household who understood her, who knew just what her problems were, with no one there to intervene, she feared for the worst. True, the child was wiser about dealings with the outside world than she was nine years ago, after Remilia's own Scarlet Mist had been laid to rest; but she was so terribly naïve, and still lacked understanding on the full extent of what her powers could do - and why her games were anything but to those around her. It wasn't the potential for carnage being painted through Gensokyo that scared, but the repercussions of Flandre's actions and the punishment that could befall her little sister. With a month past, it was no about cost, no longer about concern of what the absent Hakurei shrine maiden would do when, or if, she ever reared her head again. Remilia, in the deepest part of her heart, simply wanted her little sister back safe and sound.

A knock came at the entryway, and the vampire's eyes snapped up. Taking a breath, she shifted to sit upright in her seat and display the posture of a lady. She still had her position to consider after all, it would not do to have anyone see her sulking. "You may enter," she called across the hall. The great twin doors opened with a groan of protest as the chief maid, Sakuya, approached, wheeling a small cart in front of her.

"It will not do Milady well to skip tea time," Sakuya said, the ghost of a smile on her lips. She was the only one of her servants, and a human at that, that Remilia would allow to address her in a manner that even hinted familiarity. Indeed, for her youth, she was clever. A perfect maid for the devil in scarlet.

"I'm certain your tea is exquisite as ever," she said, closing her eyes and lowering her head a little. "I've simply no taste for such pleasantries at the moment."

"Your concern for the little mistress is admirable, Milady. There are many who could learn from your example."

"Spare me the false flattery," Remilia said, looking to the great wooden doors across the room, cracked open now only ever so slightly. "My little sister has gone missing, and the only answer we have is the same stock one that keeps cropping up at every corner. I should find that witch and bleed her out."

"If your appetite is that great, then perhaps I should have brought you more for your morning meal." Sakuya approached the chair, a silver platter balanced atop her fingertips on one hand as she took the cold tea with the other. Once set, she pulled the lid and turned back to the cart. "I thought you might like something a bit heavier this today, so I took the liberty of preparing a steak, specially seasoned to your tastes, with a side of grilled vegetables. I'll have your wine in a moment."

Remilia sighed, staring at the meal. It looked exquisite, as she expected of her head maid. "I have a particular flavor of choice tonight, that's all." She turned forward, holding her hands out before her, gazing at her red painted nails as she balled them into fists. "Fate is mine to control. If I truly desired, I could have this entire world bow before the might of the Scarlet house. Instead, I can't even take proper care of the one blood relative I have in the entire world. When she's not drunk off of her own power, she's enraged. When the child's rage ebbs, only deep sadness remains... and I have no notion on how to console her, after five centuries. Now I may never get that chance."

"And yet you do not manipulate her fate to have a better life, Milady?"

Remilia's lips parted, prepared to scold the maid, but she held fast. Sakuya, her right hand in the house, knew exactly the restrictions that came with her capabilities, the two edges of the blade. To send an entire world reeling in merely one general direction took tremendous power, which she indeed boasted. Her flash was not without substance. However, as she had learned from experiments, aside from extensive use of her power driving her to exhaustion, fate was fickle and cruel all on its own. If left to its own devices, even something as noble as giving her sister a better life could have carried consequences the child did not deserve and that Remilia did not want. What if Flandre's 'better life' meant that Remilia would never see her again? True, another twist of fate would see it corrected, but she could return to her sister's side worse than ever before. A better life was a matter subject to anyone's interpretation, after all.

It was why she did not utilize such power during her very own Scarlet Mist Incident. Remilia could have very well steered Gensokyo under her rule, but it could have led down several paths. To become a ruin, to cost her the lives of those in her house... Perhaps she would have, if things were particularly bad, dominated the illusory world for a few minutes unchallenged, the Hakurei shrine maiden's blood on her lips and that gap youkai annihilated at her feet – just long enough for the barrier enclosing their world to shatter from its caretakers' demise.

No, to manipulate fate on her child sister would be far too cruel. She had resolved only to make use of that power in either situations where results could be seen quickly, or in the direst of circumstances. That option off the table, she leaned back in her seat and entertained her maid with a smile.

"A mere human, and yet you somehow know how to constantly stoke the flames in my mind. Are you certain we shouldn't go back and get you that immortal's liver?"

Sakuya approached again, setting a wine glass on the table, filled with a rich, rosy liquid with a rich bouqet.

"To serve you is the greatest honor I could ask, Lady Remilia. I fear a never ending life would only damper my enthusiasm on the experience." The silver-haired maid gave a flawless smile, folding her hands together in front of her apron. "So I will live this finite life to the fullest in your service."

Remilia, satisfied with her discussion with the chief maid, proceeded to eat. After all, her guest would be along soon enough, and she already had some expectations of what this foreigner's impression of her would be like. Nothing she had not encountered before, at any rate. The meal, as she assumed from that first glance, was delectable to the last morsel. The maid was as skilled in the kitchen as any other area of her job. With the meal behind her, Sakuya took her plate and left Remilia clutching the tall glass cradling her drink.

The liquid in the glass rippled.

"It seems our guest has arrived," Remilia remarked impassively, lifting the glass to her lips and taking a sip. The massive doors to the master room flew open and slammed back into the walls an instant later, and two familiar figures wrestled on the floor. Their guest, Rainbow Dash, was wrapped up in the hold of their gate guard, a foreign youkai the queen of the night had acquired during one of her trips in the outside world. Hong Meiling did not look to strain too greatly against the physical power of the winged woman, but she seemed to be having trouble keeping her grip. The 'pegasus', which Remilia could only scoff at the notion of, was continually wriggling out of her hands and being re-grabbed.

"Meiling, can't you keep her under control?" Sakuya chided the guard, who only looked to her with frustration at the situation.

"It's not quite as easy as all that, Miss Sakuya! Lady Remilia, sorry for the intrusion, just-WHOA!" She slammed her palms flat on the ground as Rainbow broke away and leapt into the air, spreading both wings and taking to the air unsteadily. Most of the feathers had grown back, no doubt thanks to Patchouli's masterful spell work, but the rainbow-headed girl clearly was having balance issues. Meiling capitalized, lunging at her prey like a tiger. She seized her, wrapping her legs around her waist and catching her in a headlock. The new weight and shift in balance sent the two crashing down to the floor, bouncing along the ground, finally coming to rest at the vampire's feet.

"You're making a fuss," Remilia remarked dryly, swirling the drink in its glass. "Could you perhaps stop embarrassing my guard long enough to speak with me like adults?"

"How about _this_?"Rainbow whipped her head up, clearly straining as she was held in place, but managing regardless. "Let me outta this creepy house! My friends are out there somewhere and your lackeys are just slowing me down!"

"Incredible," she said with a complete lack of emotion to back up the word. "You're as single-minded as Patchy said." Setting her wine glass aside on the table, Remilia rose to her feet. "Let her go, Meiling."

"Huh? My lady, you-"

"Now."

Rainbow Dash was released that second, Meiling rising and straightening out the green china dress that had been twisted around her frame in the struggle. Her red hair was all over her face, and the white pants had a tear in the knee. She reached up and patted at her head, blinking and looking around quickly as if she had lost something.

"Here," Sakuya said aside, already holding the object she sought. Meiling smiled broadly, taking her green hat from the maid and dusting off the gold star pin on its front before donning it again.

"As for you," Remilia said, her attention on Rainbow Dash as she approached her guest, "I'd say you owe us a little gratitude for saving your life. I could have left you to the creatures around the lake if I felt like it."

Rainbow looked down at her, taken aback. She leaned over, getting a good look at her. "Kid, not that I don't appreciate and all, but I don't think you understand just how important what I gotta do is."

"If it involves that fox and her mistress, then we have a common dilemma." Remilia reached up, placing a finger on her nose and, with ease, pushing her back. The vampire watched the ex-pegasus stagger a couple of feet before righting herself. "And don't call me 'kid', brat."

"You rotten little-"

"Stow your temper," she ordered, her hands set firm on her hips. The Scarlet Devil's wings spread and she lifted off the ground, beating them gently in the air to hover at eye level with the alien girl. "I know all about what you've been through at the hands of my little sister, and for that, the Scarlet household extends its sincerest regrets and apologies. _However_, allow me to remind you that she is my little sister, and not the only one who has the means to use considerable force." Her eyes widened as she cocked her head back, pupils narrowed to slits. "I come seeking your cooperation in setting things right, but I will feed well if you push me. I suggest you weigh your words carefully in my presence, Rainbow Dash."

It was a moment of tense silence. Meiling watched alongside Sakuya, the former fretting more than the latter, as they waited out the result. With her teeth grit and fists clenched, Rainbow seemed apt to go the hard route. However, she sniffed and stood upright - rigid, but not prepared to lunge as she had been just seconds ago.

"So what do I call you?"

"Remilia Scarlet," she said, easing the intimidating visage from her face to one of nonchalance. Folding her wings against her back, she touched down gracefully on the floor, turning her back to her guest and returning to her seat. "I have a proposition for you, one that may yet work to our mutual benefit."

"I'm listening," Rainbow responded curtly.

"Patchouli has told me that you have impressive speed. Would you say so yourself?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" Rainbow tossed her head to one side, closing her eyes. "No one's faster than me in all of Equestria. You want quick, you're looking at the right girl."

"We'll need quick for this to work." The vampire sat down, crossing one leg over the other and touching her fingertips together. "Flandre is swift and powerful in her own right, but it's clear that you are faster still, even bearing dead weight. At the moment, I have Patchouli researching a way to bridge the gap between worlds. My goal is simple, I want my little sister back. I don't give a damn about your fanciful little world full of happy endings, you can keep that. However, she may not be led so easily. For that, we'll need an... engaging playmate for her."

Rainbow stared at Remilia, allowing the words to sink in, before her eyes widened, alarm and offense painted on her face.

"You want me to be bait?"

"If you want to call yourself that."

"Are you serious? She carved a new gorge into the plains under Cloudsdale! My friend and I nearly got ourselves killed just trying to get away from her! She's your little monster, why don't you go after her?!"

"I will warn you only once," Remilia said, her tone suddenly becoming grave. A hellish glow came to her scarlet eyes, and she saw Rainbow Dash flinch beneath her gaze. "Be mindful of the words you choose about my sister." There was a dead silence between them, hanging for a time until the mistress of the house closed her eyes. "Flandre has a unique ability that poses a threat even to me in certain ways. By finding the Eye of an object, she can annihilate it, consequentially destroying her target completely in turn. I'm certain she must have demonstrated it for you. However, like any power, there are limitations and stipulations. In Flandre's case, she must be able to perceive the Eye.

"There are two key ways in which that perception can be blocked. In the first, and the rarest, case, it must be clouded from her sight. Aside from smoke or debris, this would require someone of exceptional spiritual power to be able to interfere with her ability to find their Eye. However, even that may only delay matters, if she can weaken them enough. I doubt even those princesses in your world could completely block out her ability, so it falls to our second option.

"The second way to prevent being reduced to a fine pulp by my little sister's skill is for her simply not to be able to focus. When Flandre takes interest in something, it's locked, and she targets it specifically. However, if she can be frustrated or thrown off - perhaps, in this case, unable to keep an eye on her target long enough to find that point - then their greatest threat comes from her raw power itself."

"And you want me to do that," Rainbow stated, her tone flat. "You're not making a real good argument on why I should _care_. That little sister of yours almost killed me and someone I know. What do you think's gonna happen when our princesses get hold of her? She may be tough, but between the two of them, there's no chance."

"I'm afraid I don't know enough about your princesses' powers from what was gleaned from your memories." Remilia's eyes narrowed further. "But if they are all that stands between my sister and annihilating everything you love for her personal enjoyment, then I can only imagine how high the bodies will stack before they leap into action, let alone track her down." Rainbow Dash seemed alarmed by that, and Remilia leaned forward in her seat. "Is that foolish pride out of your eyes now, Rainbow Dash? I don't give a damn about how much greater I am than you right now, or what happens to your paltry little world. I want my little sister back, and you want to return to a home not painted with the innards of your friends and family alike. Whether you are on board or not matters little to me, but it would make things easier for us both in the long run."

The vampire stared at the winged girl before her, one hard gaze colliding with the other across the way. Except for the breath of the living, there was utter silence.

"I want to find my friends, first," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm not leaving Gensokyo without them."

Remilia gave her a fanged grin, leaning back and resting in her great seat. "I will grant you that. However, you will require an escort." The vampire's eyes flicked to her servants, studying them both in silence for a moment. "Meiling, in the morning, I want you to take her to the human village. Keep an eye on her, and ensure that nothing unfortunate happens to our guest."

Sakuya looked somewhat taken aback, but remained still and silent. The Chinese guardian merely bowed at the waist.

"You can count on me, Lady Remilia," she said.

"I expect I can," she said. "Do you have any further concerns, Rainbow Dash?"

"No," she said, jamming her hands into her pants pockets. "Though feels like I just made a deal with the devil."

"Don't worry, I don't have a taste for souls." Remilia flashed her fangs in a grin. "I suggest you be off. Daybreak a few hours out, and I expect you'll have a little trouble flying on those fragile wings as it is. It would serve us all poorly if you had to crash into a tree or something like that."

Without a word, Rainbow Dash turned and walked to the door, somewhat angrily it appeared. Remilia couldn't say she was surprised, she had been warned of the girl's ego. However, in a battle of charisma and personal glory, not only was she a guest in the household, but Remilia would simply not accept a defeat. Meiling bowed one more time before following their alien guest. As the doors shut with a heavy thud, the nightwalker looked upon the remains of her drink in the half-empty glass. "Sakuya, more wine."

"Of course, Milady." Sakuya moved with purpose, approaching Remilia's seat with a decanter filled with her drink of choice in hand. As Remilia held the glass out, her human servant poured.

"You shouldn't take offense to being kept here, Sakuya."

She made no immediate move, though her brows knit together. As she finished pouring the drink the maid set the glass vessel aside, taking a submissive knee before her mistress and lowering her head. "Milady..."

"You will have your time to take the front again, but I need you here now."

"I simply do not understand. Meiling is the guardian of the manor's gate. I am more accustomed to work in the human village, and if this situation escalates-"

"Then that is exactly why I will need you here." Remilia asserted her position. Leaning forward, she slid her free hand down and cupped Sakuya's chin, turning her maid's eyes upon her own visage. "It has been some time since I've let you spread your wings, I am entirely aware of that, but now is not the time. When things escalate, I need my right hand at my side. Let any insignificant youkai dare trespass on these grounds, I am in the mood to... play, as my sister would put it. What will come later, however, our best foot will have to go forward. When the time comes, I need you and Patchouli well prepared."

"Lady Remilia," Sakuya said, gazing with wonder at her mistress, "have you deduced the cause of this?"

"No," Remilia said, her hand withdrawing from the human's face. She sat back in her chair with her fingers laced together, gazing contemplatively over the great hall. "I have no inkling of how this will all play out in the end, but in the years we have resided here, there has been no incident like this one. Indeed, I believe that what we are about to face will be one of the greatest trials the Scarlet household has ever been presented with. We'll have our work cut out for us."

"And the little mistress?"

"I don't know," Remilia said firmly. "But if she's being utilized as a pawn in this game, then I will make that old woman suffer a thousandfold." Remilia took a deep breath, before her head turned to Sakuya. "I will only ask you this once. Knowing all this, can I count on your support?"

Sakuya gazed at her in disbelief, no doubt caused by the question her mistress had posed her. Finally, a smile grew upon her lips, and she bowed her head.

"Even if I could turn the clock back so far, Milady, I would still choose to remain in your service. You have all of my skills at your disposal, now and always."

Remilia chuckled, closing her eyes and reclining against the seat. "Good. Now, go. I would like some time to myself before dawn." Remilia listened to the sound of her chief maid's skirt ruffling as she stood; the clicking of her heels across the marble floor and the creak of the cart as it was wheeled away. The hinges of the great doors sang out in protest as they opened for, and banged closed as they were shut, leaving the mistress of the manor to herself and her thoughts.

The smile on her lips faded, and her eyes opened. Remilia, her face solemn, stood and took to the air. The vampire soared over the floor of the cavernous room and up to the windows toward the tops of the walls where there was ample view of Gensokyo through the colored glass. Looking out upon the landscape, her eyes fell upon the reflection of the half-moon on the Misty Lake.

_No,_ she thought to herself, eyes narrowed. _I suppose if a little pep talk were all that could alleviate these feelings, I would be an even more miserable excuse for a sister. Fate is such an insignificant tool when you get down to it. Even when it's manipulated, there are so many variables._ She reached out, setting her palm flat against the chilled glass. _However, I will decree this much._ Crimson energy crackled to life around her opposite hand, as she envisioned so very vividly the sight of plunging Gungnir through the face of this incident's culprit. _For using my sister like this, however you your final moments play out, they will be the most painful, humiliating ones of your life._

* * *

><p>Rarity awoke from perhaps the deepest slumber of her life. Gazing straight up at the canopy draped over the bed, she inhaled deeply and smiled. She had been up late speaking with Satori, an act that did her heart a great lot of good. The youkai... no, the young lady, had been more than a proper host to her, and a shoulder of support in her current trial. They compared tales of their experiences, familial and otherwise, and the fashionista had learned an extensive amount about the workings of the Underground. Why, the lady of the house had even been kind enough to explain danmaku to her and demonstrate a bit of it with a brilliant lightshow that did well to lift her spirits. It was only when she began to doze in her seat that the heart-reader had Orin escort her to her room, and what a room it was. A hearth burned in waiting for her, filling the room with comforting warmth. Night clothes had been laid out, and a luxurious bed had been prepared that made even her own back home seem like some dusty old cot. Rarity allowed herself to sink into the plush material with a little wiggle, almost lamenting that she would have to get up.<p>

She thought so, at any rate. There were no clocks in the room. In fact, she had not seen proper daylight since before she had arrived in Gensokyo. She hadn't exactly asked how they told time so far Underground, though she didn't doubt a timepiece existed somewhere in the place. That would have simply been too strange. Rallying her strength, and what she considered a great amount of personal discipline to sacrifice such a fabulous position, she sat up and gave herself a moment to stretch. Whatever time it was, she was most certainly well rested. Any aches and pains from the previous day would simply be dealt with, she had to get back on the search. Sliding from the bed and to her feet, she strode across the room to an armchair where bathing supplies had been left for her the night before in a wicker basket.

_She should really think about opening a hotel,_ Rarity mused to herself, gathering the basket in her arms as she made for the hallway. _Service like this would get her five stars, easily. Though, I do suppose creating a subterranean tourist industry would have some challenges._ She carried on in this line of thought as she walked the grandiose halls of the home, following the directions she had been given the night before. It was somewhat embarrassing to think about, that she had gone to bed without a bath. How unladylike of her, how rude it must have seemed to Satori. Well, that would be no issue in a moment, as she drew back the door and gasped.

Laid out before her was perhaps the most fantastic bathing area she had seen outside of Canterlot. Resembling the style of the ponies from Japon she had read up on for a Far East Fashion Fling, there were separate areas for actual washing of the body, and a tub to soak in after one was finished with the actual preening. Of course there were accommodations made for their different body types, but it was large and in part the same. The floor was not merely laid in marble, but an entire marble slab - no doubt a benefit of the home's location - and gold laid decorations decorated the walls and tub, depicting what appeared to be several different creatures in a very stylized manner.

In fact, as she thought about it, many of the buildings and youkai she had passed in the Underground had clothes and architecture nearly identical to Japon's. She pondered for a moment, before shrugging and stepping inside. It would merit study later, but she was dying to soak her tired muscles and aching bones.

Rarity stripped down and folded her clothes, setting them in a wicker basket by the entryway in preparation for a cleansing ritual. As she took part in its rites, she pondered over all that had occurred thus far in her experience in Gensokyo. It was a fantastic world in several ways. The problem lay in the assault on her own world. Yukari had made little absolutely clear to them in her announcement that month ago, but of particular note was motive. As far as her sudden relocation to Gensokyo, no one else knew _why_ everything was happening.

It was all rather bizarre in the grand scheme of things, really.

As she finished lathering and rinsing, with particular care around her side where she had been grazed by Yamame's danmaku, she moved to the tub itself. It was mammoth, if she were being modest. No surprise, considering there had been several wash stations where she had cleaned a moment ago. She set foot into the steaming waters and waded in, moving to a wall and lowering herself gingerly into the bath. It stung initially where it touched her side but the pain melted away as she leaned back, sighing in content and smiling.

"A lady could get used to this," she muttered, looking to a carving of some kind of devil's head, watching water flow from its fanged maw. Returning to her thoughts, the fashionista tried to gather up the events in her mind and piece them all together. Really, it was all very absurd and poorly put together in the grand scheme of things. Rarity had planned parties of her own and held events, been part of fashion shows and the like, and she knew that loose ends could unravel the entire ensemble. She may not have been able to act in her current position, but it was all so awkwardly spaced. Why had Rainbow Dash alone been involved with whatever had injured Gilda and herself? It would have made more sense for other assailants to be sent to their homes in the dark of night, when their defenses were at their lowest, where they were the most separated from one another. A month's wait, too, was an awfully long time. Was it cockiness, or was something else going on? Furthermore, her own situation considered, Rarity was extremely fortunate. Off the top of her head alone she could think of a dozen places worse she could have wound up. Overlooking a rocky start, she had instead been given more help than she ever expected. What of her friends, then? She backpedaled immediately, wondering if they had been taken at all, but that would have made even less sense than everything else. Fluttershy fell before she did, and the other two were in poor condition. Better to assume the worst that they were all in Gensokyo, somewhere. So the next logical step in questioning was if her friends, too, been so fortunate, or was it a simple game of chance?

No, however that woman moved, her actions were deliberate. Each of those strange holes had a purpose that day they met in the Everfree Forest, not unlike the spells the unicorns could cast. Was it really all the entire fiasco was? Some game to kill time for someone utterly bored? Why go to all the trouble, then, of transforming them, equipping them with the means and mindsets to survive?

Rarity groaned in frustration, reaching up and pinching her the bridge of her nose. Perhaps she was not cut out for this detective work. Twilight had more of the mind for it, and Pinkie most certainly had the interest. She wondered how her friends in Equestria were doing. Certainly by that point, there must have been a ruckus raised about her disappearance, and the others' as well. She resolved that she would save the rest of the heavy thought for after a morning meal. Rarity hoped Satori had something of a more vegetarian alignment.

It was only as she began to relax that she felt a distant rumble through the floor, causing the bath waters to rock back and forth. Shaken from her own little world, she wondered briefly what had caused that before taking notice of the sound of footsteps coming right up behind her. Rarity turned just in time to feel hands come down on her head and shoulder. All at once she was went down, smacking her head on the side of the tub before she was submerged. Rarity's ears rang from the impact, and for all that should have been obvious, up and down were directions of question. Her head above her right ear stung and throbbed all at once, and she made the mistake of trying to breathe, which sent her immediately into a coughing fit that rapidly worsened her situation. She began to kick and splash, trying to wrench free, but the effort was futile. The grip of her assailant was far too strong, and she feared the worst.

_My wand... it's with my clothes! Damn it all, if I could just get my hands on it..._ The thought pattern repeated in her mind as things took a turn for the worst. Her chest burned and her senses dulled. The tailor had no idea how much longer she had, but she would be done for with certainty if she simply quit. She wished desperately for her horn as she tried to pry the fingers off her head; her hand was knocked away for her trouble, however, and her assailant pushed harder than before to keep her under. No matter how she struggled, she simply lacked the raw physical power to free herself.

_If I could just use my magic...!_

It happened faster than she could explain it. There was a bright flash that shone through the water, and all at once she felt a familiar, slender shape in her left hand. She recognized its aura, felt its connection to her, and knew she had her wand - and with it, an opportunity. She envisioned the nearest things that would be available to her - the bathing supplies scattered about the room – and as her light blue aura engulfed her horn, she felt the weight of the objects as if they were in her hand. Rarity's struggles ceased just long enough to focus and fling the objects with her best guesses, relying on the sensation of the pull in her wand to guide her shots. It was disheartening to only barely hear several dull thunks and thuds above the surface. Only after several seconds of gambled shots, the grip on her body slackened and she was released. Twisting away, the once-unicorn pressed her feet against the flat of the bath wall and pushed off as hard as her legs were able. Rarity launched herself through the water and finally surfaced in the center of the tub, gasping frantically for air. She heaved as the air filled her lungs as the water was expelled from her body. Resting her weight on her arms, she took time to compose herself. She needed to gather her bearings. She'd have to act fast, as she heard something soaring at her from behind.

Rarity ducked back into the water, narrowly avoiding a strike of some kind, moving as far as she could beneath its surface. As soon as she was certain it was clear, the fashionista broke the water's surface and slogged her way to the edge, barely keeping her footing as she reached the steps and exited the bath. Twisting to face her opponent, she covered herself with her hands.

She stared down twins, it seemed, identical to the last hair on their heads. One stood by where she had been soaking before, and the other hovered over the water, holding her hand out as if ready to strike. Blonde, with pointed ears, glowing green eyes, and the two were dressed-

There would be time for that later, it seemed, as spheres of energy suddenly shot from the two's hands, forcing the sopping wet girl to duck to the floor. This didn't seem like the danmaku before, if the explosive force that rocked the wall behind her was any indicator. No, these were straight magical energy attacks, and the second one was launched squarely at her torso. Rarity lunged out of the way, rolling on the ground as it soared by where she had been, before scrambling on hands and feet toward the doorway. She could already see one of the two flying in the corner of her eye, attempting to outrace her to the door. The only sounds she could make out were guttural growls, with no remote indication of any intent other than spilling her blood. She turned her eyes to the basket by the door and grimaced. To live for fashion was one thing, but she would hardly die for it. Focusing her energy into her wand, her blouse shot from the basket, slamming into the blonde's face and wrapping around it. Her foe continued to fly as she tore at the fabric, successfully shredding it to ribbons. Vision returned too late however, and the girl collided violently with the wall, exploding into green light before vanishing entirely.

Rarity would not wait for the other to make her move, making only a small concession in spellbinding her remaining clothes so that they would hover in place before the door. She literally ran into her skirt and bra, waiting exactly as she needed them to be in mid-air, her bra securing itself around her chest and skirt zipping shut at her hip while she tore out of the room and around the corner.

The world shook again, and this time, Rarity could hear a hellish scream of agony and fury. From the window in the grand hallway she could see a fiery ray shoot up from the ground, erasing all it touched. It pierced the cavernous roof above the Underground, boring through it as if it were nothing. When the ray faded, the smoke was sucked out of the hole as if to fill a vacuum in the space, and Rarity could clearly see the faintest touches of blue sky. Whatever was happening, things were wildly out of control.

She had made a mistake, however, one she realized too late; she had stopped to gawk instead of continuing to run. The feral shriek behind her saved her as she turned to face her green-eyed assailant. The woman slammed slamming into her and gripping her arms, the sharpened nails at the ends of her fingers puncturing Rarity's flesh. The force had them both soaring now, but it gave Rarity a chance to get a look at her attacker. She gazed at her rage-written face and shuddered, feeling the same oppressive sensation as she did the moment she had touched down on the bridge the night before. Was this magic? She thought she saw something else. However, before she could identify it, the ex-unicorn was slammed into a wall, gasping for air as it rushed from her lungs and she felt something crack within. The grip tightened on her arms, and beneath the raging woman's palms, a green glow came to life. It felt as if her arms were being set ablaze under the attacker's touch.

Rarity responded in kind, twisting her arm and thrusting her horn at her foe's face. Her head merely cocked to the side, ignoring the stick. Fine enough, as the tailor poured her own power into the tool, focusing on the foe's intricate trappings, quickly analyzing every stitch and fold in the eccentric clothes. The Equestrian girl loosened the red threads at the base of her attacker's skirt, weaving them skillfully together. They were wrapped and tightened around the youkai's thighs until her legs were drawn and bound together. Raising a foot, she kicked the animalistic girl square in the chest and sent her stumbling away, barely able to keep herself upright. Ignoring the searing pain in her arms, she continued her work. Next would be the sash and overcoat. The former of the two was pulled completely free of the blonde's body as her coat flew open until the fabric was taut. Rarity willed the overcoat closed, utilizing every inch of slack in the sleeves and torso until the beastly girl's arms were pressed tight at her sides. The sash itself had to be torn in half, each segment splitting to immobilize her arms and upper body. Finally, the scarf, relocated to her ankles to ensure that was the end of her pursuit.

With pain renewed in her side and back, to match new wounds and the sweat pouring down her frame, Rarity's legs crumpled beneath her. She dropped to sit against the wall, chest heaving with heavy breaths. It was all she could do to push the pain back as she listened to the bestial shrieks of the blonde. What was wrong with her? She was the first youkai who Rarity encountered in such animalistic form. Even the looks she received from others walking through the town beyond the palace were, at worst, condescending. It was as if she were possessed, a novel idea in and of itself for a creature considered a monster by their outside world.

Rarity's rest would be short-lived, however, as she saw the glow again. The clothes around the attacker's hands began to burn as she lifted her head, locking that hateful glare onto her target. The fashionista's own eyes widened in alarm, and a sense of urgency swelled with. The house guest was on her feet in a second, sprinting down the hall in spite of the pain from the new injury. She was going to destroy her own clothes to get to her. Rarity had only bought herself a fleeting moment or two; she had to get Satori's help.

As she ran along the checkered floor, she counted herself fortunate in forgoing her hosiery, ruined as they were at any rate. She broke hard the second she turned the corner, coming to a complete stop. Panting heavily, she gazed at a molten chasm she would have thrown herself into had she failed to halt. A great hole had burnt through the lower floors of the palace, from the earth below and out the building entirely. No doubt it had been put there there after that last powerful blast. Past the sound of fire and roar of scorching air, a faint, agonized shriek was caught on the wind. Rarity staggered back, turning around only to see her attacker with her forearms free, clawing at the rest of her binding clothes. As the earth began to shake again, Rarity took a slow, deliberate breath and readied her wand, her aura spreading up her arm.

"No options any longer I suppose_,_" she said to no one, watching the green-eyed woman tear away the scarf around her legs and crawl to her feet. Her foe leapt from the floor, taking to the air and shooting at Rarity with single-minded fury. "But you won't have me without a fight! Come at me, you beast!"


End file.
